Pink snails, feral hogs, 'air potatoes' - LSU Ag Center gets $1M to fight invasive species
Clusters of hot pink apple snail eggs cling to reeds and cypress trunks, a backdrop fitting for either an alien invasion movie or a Floam commercial.
As the snails advance in Louisiana’s waterways, they destroy aquatic ecosystems, eating their way through native flora and fauna and infecting other animals with parasites. Their presence can spell ruin for a rice crop or a crawfish pond.
Hot and humid climates of the Mississippi River Valley are teeming with invaders like the apple snail that wreak havoc on ecosystems and agriculture.
There’s the milky larva of the Mexican rice borer, which tunnels through rice stems and sugarcane stalks. There are packs of the notorious feral hog, infamous for its destruction of crop fields by rooting around the soil in search of plants and grubs. And there are “air potatoes,” a kind of yam that grows above ground on fast-growing vines, crowding out native plants.
A new multi-state initiative led by the LSU AgCenter aims to detect these and other invasive species before their populations reach exponential levels — and manage the numbers of those already established. The Mississippi River Invasive Species Consortium will develop and implement techniques for monitoring and removing non-native organisms, with eradication being the goal for some emergent species. “We’re moving goods across the nation so rapidly,” LSU AgCenter entomologist Rodrigo Diaz said. “In that process, some of our ecosystems don’t have a way to defend themselves.”
The new consortium, launched with $1 million in federal funding that was announced Tuesday, will include the University of Arkansas and Mississippi State University. Experts from other land-grant institutions in the Mississippi River Valley will join the consortium as it develops, Diaz said.
The initiative will address the abundant invasive species in Louisiana such as giant salvinia, feral hogs, Chinese tallow trees, air potatoes, apple snails, Mexican rice borers, Asian carp, citrus greening, guava root-knot nematodes and emerald ash borers. The invading plants and animals, often introduced through trade and travel, can crowd native species, alter ecosystems and present challenges for agriculture .
A billion-dollar problem
Invasive species cost North America over $26 billion annually in recent years, according to the National Invasive Species Information Center.
“This funding will allow us to coordinate detection, identification, research and best management practices to mitigate these threats and protect our region’s vital agricultural and natural resources,” LSU AgCenter senior vice chancellor Matt Lee said in a release about the consortium.
Diaz said the AgCenter set its sights on launching the consortium in the past three years. The idea was to address the problem of invasive species across states in the Mississippi River Valley as a team, he said. “Several colleagues at the LSU AgCenter thought, you know, other states are also dealing with the same problems,” Diaz said. “So, we need to be getting together.”
Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow, who sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, helped secure the funding. The dollars will reach the consortium through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service.
“I’m committed to protecting our agricultural resources and natural habitats and love seeing LSU on the cutting edge of such important work,” Letlow said in a release. Sen. Bill Cassidy and Sen. John Kennedy also played a part in obtaining the funds, said LSU AgCenter chief administrative officer Hampton Grunewald.
“Every state is seeing effects of non-native species on the food and fiber sector, affecting agricultural economies,” Grunewald said. “This is a plan to work with other universities to try to help reduce that impact and give our producers the most tools that they can possibly have to remain economically viable. "Louisiana is particularly vulnerable to invasive species because of the Mississippi River and the region’s mild winters, Diaz said. The situation is worse in Florida and Hawaii, but still a significant challenge for the Bayou State, he said. “That’s fascinating, how the ecosystem facilitates or prevents the establishment of an invasive species,” Diaz said. “It’s beautiful, it’s complex.”
The consortium’s work will be a mix of applied research and outreach efforts, Diaz said. It is still in the early stages, with researchers currently focused on developing priorities and deciding how best to allocate funds.
“We’re going to be working on programs about early detection, thinking about how we develop better monitoring techniques so we can find invasive species in the landscape and start implementing control measures early,” Diaz said. “Once these invasive species become out of control, think about apple snails or the nutria, management becomes really expensive.”