DAVIE, FLA. (WSVN) - Local and federal authorities are working together to implement a plan using bugs to combat an invasive plant species found across the State of Florida.
Officials taking part in the project met at the Tree Tops Park in Davie on Tuesday morning to release the first group of insects, called thrips, to start getting rid of the invasive Brazilian peppertree.
“That’s why we have the leaves and the paper inside — to help them get from the vial to the plants themselves,” researcher Dr. Greg Wheeler said while showing reporters. “It really changes the whole structure of our habitats. It comes in, aggressively invades and takes over, replaces all our native vegetation with just Brazilian pepper.”
Over 125 thrips were tested and brought to Davie to be released and begin eating the plants. One large area of focus is the Florida Everglades.
“It really takes over the Everglades,” Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission member Kipp Frohlich said. “It takes over the mangroves.”
The tree is said to have been brought to Florida from Brazil close to 100 years ago.
Scientists later discovered the plant had no natural predators, causing the shrub to pose a danger to native plants and wildlife in South Florida.
The thrips were tested to make sure they would not move on to eat other native plants once they finished eating the Brazilian peppertrees.
In testing, scientists said the insects chose starvation over eating any other plant, and they are growing them as fast as possible at a U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Davie.
“They eat the tips of the plants and they really restrict the plant growth and weaken the plant,” Frohlich said. “They’re very effective, and they’ve been tested extensively, so they don’t bother any of our native plants. They just target the pepper. It will be one of our tools now as they spread. We’ll still have to use other tools to control pepper, but it’ll be a dual approach. By having the thrips out there weakening the plant, it makes it much easier to control.”
Officials believe the bugs will die off on their own once they get rid of all of the invasive trees over the course of several years.
“It will take a while,” Wheeler said. “It’s gonna be a slow transition from this plant being the dominant plant to being less dominant.”
Over 700,000 acres of land in Florida are said to be infested with the plants.
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