Zebra Mussels, Honeysuckle, and Spotted Lanternflies! - Rolling Invasive Species thread

This discussion had been going on on the rolling "Is This Racist?" thread thread . Original discussion centered on intersection between racism/xenophobia and environmental movement. Fair enough.

Second discussion is just a revive about spotted lanternflies (although to be fair to Evan, he was engaging directly with a post from upthread).

I think it would be better to give them their own thread than to go off-topic on the racism thread.

Discussion Part 1 (March 2022)

so i follow a few national parks on facebook, and apparently last week was "national invasive species awareness week" (NISAW). capitol reef national park and great basin national park both did a few posts about it. capitol reef chose to highlight the tumbleweed, which is russian thistle that was introduced to the american west in the late 1800s. kind of an interesting choice considering what's going on in the world. someone commented "fuck tumbleweeds." it seemed to me like idk something else must be contributing to the passion behind that comment other than the inherent badness of tumbleweeds.

then great basin national park, which is in the middle of nowhere in nevada and often posts questionable things related to climate change, straight up posted a meme image asserting that more species extinctions are attributable to invasive species than to human caused climate change (with no citation). which is very disingenuous considering invasive species are human caused.

anyway, invasive species - the more i think about it the more it's basically a reflection of xenophobia and american nationalism? is there any soundness to the concept, when "invasive species" have been the majority of what's going on environmentally worldwide for idk hundreds of years? it also seems like the mainstream of environmental science or whatever the name of the field we're talking about here has moved past the concept and argues that it's outlived its usefulness. from a quick glance at google. idk if we have any environmental scientists or anything here to elucidate but is this generally what's going on?

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Sunday, March 6, 2022 9:05 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

anyway, invasive species - the more i think about it the more it's basically a reflection of xenophobia and american nationalism?

no. geez, learn some ecology. ecosystems that evolved in isolation from other ecosystems are very highly integrated and balanced

is there any soundness to the concept, when "invasive species" have been the majority of what's going on environmentally worldwide for idk hundreds of years?

fuck me. hundreds of years you say? biology on earth has been evolving for approximately 1 billion years. and trans oceanic migration and successful establishment of non-local species before humans got involved was on the order of maybe idk one species per ten thousand years.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Sunday, March 6, 2022 10:13 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also, not all non-native introduced species become invasive!

― peace, man, Sunday, March 6, 2022 10:28 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's not just the US where you hear about "invasive species" btw. You hear a lot about it in the UK, what with being an island and all.

― Alfred Ndwego of Kenya (Tom D.), Monday, March 7, 2022 2:34 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

reminds me of the strange case of the murder/suicide lab technician who claimed in his suicide note it was all because of his fear of Japanese Knotweed.

― calzino, Monday, March 7, 2022 2:53 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

map, the nib had a recent article talking about this. The concept obviously not being that ecosystems can't be disturbed by new arrivals, but that the vocabulary around this is coded in xenophobic ways, and that this is reflected in some of the strategies employed against them as well.

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, March 7, 2022 4:02 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Here it is:

https://thenib.com/invaders/

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, March 7, 2022 4:05 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

UK grey squirrel/red squirrel discourse is some astonishingly bloodthirsty and quasi-racist bullshit tbh yes

― imago, Monday, March 7, 2022 4:13 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Any new deepfake conspiracies today?

Here it is:

https://thenib.com/invaders🕸/

Decent article. But the digression about the English language “a trade language “ “a language that doesn’t have a heart and soul”, oof is poop some reverse blood and soil sounding shit. i mean I know they are Native American and therefore are right to be mad at the majority culture but, uh that’s a weird thing to think.
― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Monday, March 7, 2022 8:17 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

-poop-

How the hell did that get in there

― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Monday, March 7, 2022 8:18 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm choking on my breakfast over here.

― peace, man, Monday, March 7, 2022 8:27 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

English is a nice language (for Boring, Maryland to poop on).

― removing bookmarks never felt so good (PBKR), Monday, March 7, 2022 8:55 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I don't buy english as somehow being a language lacking a soul or anything either, quer dizer, não é português mas é ok. The language no more to blame than the species brought over by the colonizers, really. But it's an aside and as you said, not gonna chide Native American ppl for getting some shots in at the dominant culture.

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, March 7, 2022 9:01 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I poop blood and soil

― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Monday, March 7, 2022 10:08 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

^Skrewdriver getting lazy

― i read to 69 position (Neanderthal), Monday, March 7, 2022 10:29 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

well it's been fun trolling national park followers who go off on completely unhinged rants about a plant.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:09 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

there may be some validity to the concept of a plant species being 'invasive' i.e. disrupting an ecosystem but people who then focus their intense rage on the plant itself or the immigrants who brought it here need therapy.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:12 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

and if you really think about it, it isn't immigrants who are responsible, it's .............
.............
........
....
capitalism

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:15 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha, i don't think most people that are into invasive plants are like that, though. one of the greatest guys i've ever met, kind of my mentor if i ever had one, at my old job, was an ecologist who spent his weekends leading small groups in expeditions to teach people to identify and remove invasive plants. he'd talk about that stuff all the time, and now that he's retired, he's stepped up his plant whacking game even more.

anyway, i would guess that anyone that has intense rage about a plant or immigrants would also rage about many other things which also don't deserve it at all, so better to unfollow/unfriend

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:19 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i get that they are nice people but .. i remember hearing a bit about the tamarisk debate when i lived in moab. and i just never found the old guard side of it convincing at all. you hear all sorts of arguments about all the bad stuff that tamarisk does but ultimately it really is a magic eye kind of situation isn't it? you can sure raise a lot of bad things about what the act of removing tamarisk does to an ecosystem.

there is a lot of projection and dare i say religious substitution and maybe some gene selecting ideology and not a lot of clear thinking involved with these people ime. but yes they are nice.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:29 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I swear I have never seen “invasive species” associated with human immigration or whatever. Most of this stuff comes over via shipping and our glorious international trade. So this whole “trying to combat invasive species is racism” train of thought is just weird to me.

The point of trying to keep non-native species at bay is to try to preserve biodiversity and endangered native species that get frequently crowded out of the ecosystem.

― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:31 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

anyway, i would guess that anyone that has intense rage about a plant or immigrants would also rage about many other things which also don't deserve it at all, so better to unfollow/unfriend

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 4:19 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh these people aren't my friends lol they're just rando followers of national parks who pushed back very emotionally after i posted a note about xenophobic overtones along with this article https://e360.yale.edu/features/native-species-or-invasive-the-distinction-blurs-as-the-world-warms

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:33 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

xp haha, i don't know, i'll just agree to disagree on that, sorry. whacking invasive plants is the kind of family-friendly, normal activity that you can do with children to teach them about ecology

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:33 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I swear I have never seen “invasive species” associated with human immigration or whatever. Most of this stuff comes over via shipping and our glorious international trade. So this whole “trying to combat invasive species is racism” train of thought is just weird to me.

same

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:33 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

like, if i were teaching 3rd grade or whatever, i think it would be good to take them on a short field trip to learn about invasive plants

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:35 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I mean the emerald ash borer kills ash trees. We already lost american chestnuts and elms. I’d like to not have another eastern us tree species go bye bye.

― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:37 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

well i have some bad news for you

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:38 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Still a bit confused about whether we're talking about rhetorical framing (which is what the nib article I posted is about) or the actual effects of plants on ecosystems.

― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:38 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

why not both?

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:39 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm just postin tbh, drinking some coffee :)

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:40 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Fascists will seize on anything, and there is evidence that eco fascists are performing exactly the kind of nudge nudge wink wink stuff that map is talking about. It isn’t to say that biodiversity isn’t important, of course it is, but like anything in this cursed world, beware of your fellow travelers who might agree with you on this one issue.

― mardheamac (gyac), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:42 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

we need a thread about trees. trees are cool

― Heez, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:45 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sometimes I feel like a character in Meredith Monk’s “Memory Game”:

I remember… elm trees
I remember… when it snowed in the DC area

― Johnny Mathis der Maler (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:48 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

So glad to have spent time confirming map wasn’t imagining things :)

― mardheamac (gyac), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:53 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Fascists will seize on anything, and there is evidence that eco fascists are performing exactly the kind of nudge nudge wink wink stuff that map is talking about. It isn’t to say that biodiversity isn’t important, of course it is, but like anything in this cursed world, beware of your fellow travelers who might agree with you on this one issue.

― mardheamac (gyac), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 4:42 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm a huge fan of biodiversity. i don't actually think weedwhacking is terrible. if we could really fight species loss by *ahem* losing species i would advocate for it, but i have my doubts.

that being said, people who are really into protecting wilderness have a vibe, and that vibe is friendly to extreme stances that emphasize purity.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 11:57 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

So says California’s civil rights agency in a lawsuit filed against the electric-vehicle maker in Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday on behalf of thousands of Black workers after a decade of complaints and a 32-month investigation.

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, February 11, 2022 6:24 PM (three weeks ago)

omg ... i feel like there's something here that speaks to the focus of the vocal activists against racism and white supremacy here in Alameda County, which is very vocal and active around these issues. I don't mean this in a negative way. But, considering we had major protests in the past couple months about public school closures (due to budget issues and population shifts) that were centered around race and racism, including teachers on hunger strike ... the fact that there weren't major protests and callouts about this is noteworthy. Maybe it's because the plants are out in the suburbs idk. Again, not wanting to be a "whataboutist" just that I actually wasn't aware of it, and Alameda County activists are very good at letting people know about racist shit going on locally.

― sarahell, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:02 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

* saying "Alameda County" as a way to concisely include Oakland and Berkeley people

― sarahell, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:03 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

kudzu discourse in the south has absolutely had racist overtones (or just tones) to it

― rob, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:08 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, sorry, there being fascist over or undertones to some rhetoric in the environmental movement doesn't mean that invasive species don't exist and aren't totally destructive to native biodiversity.

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:17 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

To me it just seems like a real baby and bathwater moment.

"Oh these fascists are using the language of ecology to spread racist tropes? Might as well not care about the principles of ecology "

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:18 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

To me it just seems like a real baby and bathwater moment.

"Oh these fascists are using the language of ecology to spread racist tropes? Might as well not care about the principles of ecology "

Almost as though I made those exact points! I’m guessing you didn’t bother to click a single link either.

Fascists will seize on anything, and there is evidence that eco fascists are performing exactly the kind of nudge nudge wink wink stuff that map is talking about. It isn’t to say that biodiversity isn’t important, of course it is, but like anything in this cursed world, beware of your fellow travelers who might agree with you on this one issue.

― mardheamac (gyac), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 4:42 PM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
― mardheamac (gyac), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:20 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I wasn't addressing anything you, just adding my pov? Why do you take everything I write as a personal assault on you? Calm down.

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:25 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Always a good look, telling a woman to calm down.

― mardheamac (gyac), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:29 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

xp
sorry, I may have muddied things even further. I wasn't even talking about the environmental movement, just kudzu discourse in general (the "green plague" the "thug plant"). I do not think the concept of invasive species is inherently racist

― rob, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:30 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

map, not sure if you can read this but it may interest you: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26225593

― rob, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:36 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

interesting.

i don't know to what extent this is really present in ecologic discourse but i think any time there's a framing of it in terms of "original = good" and "corrupted = bad" it's a weak point. it doesn't mean that some plants aren't too far on the extreme of hogging resources to be desired in a particular environment. but in general i think people should move away from trying to "preserve" and "restore" and acknowledge that stewarding biological diversity is an act of creation that includes human input in important ways.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:46 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Discussion Part 2

What the rest of us are getting worked up about, obviously, is that there are any number of pests (both insect and plant) that are actively killing parts of native forest. There are hardly any Ash trees left near where I live, and every warm season there are swarms of the spotted lanternfly, which are absolutely disastrous for many plants and the animals that depend upon them. So many trees have died in the years since it first got to metro Philly.

peace, man, one way to fight the lanternfly is to PLANT MILKWEED. The lanternfly loves it and is attracted to it, but milkweed sap immobilizes and kills the lanternfly :-)

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 2:08 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Weird thread to revive but I just wanted to clarify something upthread - you see we're having an increasing issue with lantern fly infestations here in NJ so I searched the term on ILX out of curiosity and found table's post. I was intrigued but it turns out milkweed is not a solution, according to this source below debunking it... bummed because we have the pest's favorite tree out back next door and it actually is a nice looking tree despite being classified as a weed. This particular one thinks it's an oak tree or something and would pass as one if it weren't for its foliage. Anyway, now neighbors will be incentivized to destroy it because of these jerk flies and we'd then lose a huge source of greenery out our back window, where we in particular have no personal access to greenery otherwise (no yard access).

https://www.farms.com/news/spotted-lanternfly-experts-debunk-myths-about-the-prodigious-pestilent-pest-164065.aspx

― Evan, Wednesday, September 14, 2022 4:41 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Lanternflies are an absolute fucking plague near me - they're everywhere - and I hate them because most bugs for whatever reason don't land on me or bite me, but just this week I've had lanternflies land on me three times already, including one that landed on the back of my neck and started walking up into my hair, and it freaks me the fuck out.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, September 14, 2022 5:27 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I'm not sure if I'd recognise an Ash if it was fully healthy. Seems all of the ones I'm seeing are partially bare. Skeletal looking trees.

Notice the effect a couple of years ago but only recently found out what caused it.

― Stevolende, Wednesday, September 14, 2022 5:34 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I dreamt a lanternfly flew at me and I punched it.

― Look closely, that is all. (doo dah), Wednesday, September 14, 2022 8:35 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

^ great The Smiths song

― i eat ass with a knife and fork (Neanderthal), Wednesday, September 14, 2022 9:32 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I was at a park and had to grab onto a branch so I could adjust my shoe. I felt a crunch and looked to see that the entire branch was completely coated in lanternflies.

― You can't spell Fearless without Earle (President Keyes), Thursday, September 15, 2022 10:51 AM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm disappointed i haven't had the chance to squash a latern fly yet. maybe i wasn't outside enough this summer :(

Accidentally clipped off the end of the original dicussion.

i'm not trying to criticize or start a beef or anything, but i'll just note that "stewarding biological diversity is an act of creation that includes human input in important ways" sounds like a slogan for an oil company

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:49 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i agree, of course, that humans are part of the environment and that the sum of what we do and don't do has an enormous effect on the rest of it

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 12:51 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

but in general i think people should move away from trying to "preserve" and "restore" and acknowledge that stewarding biological diversity is an act of creation that includes human input in important ways.
And so is fomenting destruction of biodiversity, map. "Just leaving nature be" is sometimes a laudable position when talking about certain environmental issues. For example, I'm pretty firmly against off-shore wind farms, because of the amount of destruction they do to already threatened aquatic habitats. But simply allowing threatening plant species or pests to destroy important parts of North America's biodiversity because some fascist assholes use it as a cover for their fascism is a non-starter for me.

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 1:07 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

ok

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 1:23 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

If the spotted lanternfly makes its way down to my county this summer, I'm picking up one of these fuckers and going to war.

― peace, man, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 1:35 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i guess i'll just give an example to illustrate what i'm trying to get at. outside of boulder utah there is a small stream that runs off boulder mountain and eventually descends into the rock of the colorado plateau. right before it does, it passes through an area that used to be a cattle ranch. now it is half-ranch and half-rustic tourist resort. the ranch part still does single-crop alfalfa farming, but below that, the resort has modified the water flow in a few ways to create a very beautiful sanctuary for birds, bees, and plants. there are still areas of overgrazed and parched brush here and there, and afaik they do minimal planting or weeding to the grounds beyond a garden with a few crops, but the water motification has transformed the area into a place that is undoubtedly more biodiverse than it was as a cattle ranch, and possibly more biodiverse than it was as a single stream surrounded by pinion/juniper.

i think ecology discourse could use a little less of the american virgin / whore thing and take a more sober, clear-eyed view of the values that we want to instill in the gardens that surround us, possibly including one called "balance."

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 1:40 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd simply say that the pinion/juniper and stream from pre-ranching days was garden enough, but your point is taken.

What the rest of us are getting worked up about, obviously, is that there are any number of pests (both insect and plant) that are actively killing parts of native forest. There are hardly any Ash trees left near where I live, and every warm season there are swarms of the spotted lanternfly, which are absolutely disastrous for many plants and the animals that depend upon them. So many trees have died in the years since it first got to metro Philly.

peace, man, one way to fight the lanternfly is to PLANT MILKWEED. The lanternfly loves it and is attracted to it, but milkweed sap immobilizes and kills the lanternfly :-)

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 2:08 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sweet! Will do

― peace, man, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 2:16 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I would consider an "invasive" species to be any introduced plant, insect, crustacean, fungus, animal or other organism whose proliferation significantly degrades the food chain of an entire ecosystem, leading to large increases in mortality in all parts of that ecosystem. And, yes, I recognize that under that definition European colonization across the globe has been by far the most destructive instance of such invasion.

― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 2:30 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

^ ^ ^ Yep

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 4:24 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

yalta.jpg

― imago, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 5:25 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

wait, table and Aimless may have never beefed

― imago, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 5:26 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

No, we have.

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 5:40 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

I swear I have never seen “invasive species” associated with human immigration or whatever.
So is this where we talk about the racist buzzwording about the "Africanized" killer bee invasion?

― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 5:52 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

this seems relevant, I found this article very thought-provoking, ATTN table and map and Elvis

https://thenaturalfarmer.org/article/rethinking-the-invasive-species-paradigm/

― thinkmanship (sleeve), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 6:25 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

that looks really informative, thanks.

― Nedlene Grendel as Basenji Holmo (map), Wednesday, March 9, 2022 6:38 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

wait, table and Aimless may have never beefed

― imago, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 2:26 PM (four hours ago)

lol what? it's rare to see them agree on anything remotely political!

― sarahell, Wednesday, March 9, 2022 9:38 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

okok, my initial instincts otm lol

― imago, Thursday, March 10, 2022 4:32 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks for the article post sleeve

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, March 10, 2022 8:15 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks sleeve.

― we need outrage! we need dicks!! (the table is the table), Thursday, March 10, 2022 11:16 AM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

xp imago, i can say you were OTM 490 if that helps?

― sarahell, Thursday, March 10, 2022 2:17 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm disappointed i haven't had the chance to squash a latern fly yet. maybe i wasn't outside enough this summer :(

― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Thursday, September 15, 2022 11:30 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm happy that I didn't see any. So far, they've mostly kept to the northern and western parts of my state (Maryland).

oh they're all over brooklyn already

I was in the office yesterday, and when I stepped out at lunchtime, they were all over the front of the building. There are no trees in that area. What the heck.

I was not able to punch any of them though.

Thanks for the thread!

So they seem to be drawn to tall buildings... The largest swarms always appear to be at the foot of a high-rise, regardless of the amount of trees nearby.

We were just out, and at the intersection, at the base of a 17 story tall building, there were dozens, but directly and diagonally across the street there were only a couple dead smashed ones. Buildings were 1-3 stories.

Maybe they hit the tall buildings as they glide, and fall to the base?

They may just be attracted to tall buildings. But yeah they certainly love to congregate there.

On August 23, park biologists conducted a follow up rotenone treatment of Baker Lake to ensure the removal of its former non-native trout inhabitants in preparation for introducing Bonneville cutthroat trout next summer. pic.twitter.com/16hiF2jDIX

— Great Basin NPS (@GreatBasinNPS) October 24, 2022

crossposted from the thread i needlessly started.

you have to hand it to them though, that is pretty fucking cutthroat

Have the lanternflies died out? I feel like I'm seeing a lot less of them now that the weather is cooling off (it's been in the low to mid 50s near me the past couple of weeks).

har har xp

Xpost In the fall they go up trees and lay their eggs and then die.

Yeah, gotta keep an eye out for egg masses now.

https://psu-gatsby-files-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/styles/4_3_1500w/public/SLF%20egg%20masses.png?h=ddb2ed66&itok=2uxqMNmw

I thought this was an interesting case: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/06/canadia-wild-horses-stable-island

(p bad article though, just a series of back-and-forth quotes with no details about what effects the horses may be having)

Similar situation to the burros in the Southwestern US. Abandoned work animals that miners used, and a hundred years later they're still there, tearing up the native vegetation.

There's a spring in Death Valley where they trap the wandering burros, but they don't kill them.. there's some kind of adoption program. I saw a truckload of them being hauled out, they didn't look too pleased

Saline Warm Spring, I think (I've been there). I was hoping they'd at least do a trap/neuter/release program there, with the "release" part being optional.

you think there are burros that would choose to stay in the program?

As in, adopted by someone that'll keep them on their own land.