Browse Invasive Species Stories - Page 2

A tiny wasp — known as “Paratelenomus saccharalis” — is cutting down kudzu bug populations and Georgia soybean farmers’ need to treat for the pest, according to Michael Toews, a University of Georgia entomologist based on the UGA Tifton campus.

Over the next 10 years, the number of cargo containers operating out of the Port of Savannah, Georgia, is expected to double. While additional cargo means increased revenue for the state, Chuck Bargeron, associate director of the University of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health, is concerned it could also lead to the establishment of more invasive species.

Kudzu bugs are not native to Georgia, but in the past seven years, they’ve made their homes in soybean fields across the southeastern U.S.

Locked in museums across the world, millions of insect specimens tell the story of the world’s climatic shifts, animals on the move and changing fauna.

Georgia farmers and agriculture consultants hoping to refine their scouting skills are invited to this year’s Insect Scout Schools, hosted by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. The schools will be held in Tifton on Monday, June 13, and in Midville on Tuesday, June 21.

Once a nuisance for soybean farmers in the Southeast, kudzu bug populations appear to be declining in the U.S. The decline began in 2014 and is believed to have been brought on by two of the kudzu bug’s natural predators: a fungus and a wasp.

A team of researchers led by faculty at the University of Georgia have received a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find new ways of combating Johnsongrass, one of the most widespread and troublesome agricultural weeds in the world.

Over the last few weeks, many Georgians have focused their attention on the media-hyped coverage of the kissing bug. Much of the sensationalism and worry surrounding this insect boogieman is unwarranted, according to University of Georgia entomologists.

A tiny fly is having a huge impact on American fruit farmers. Known as spotted wing drosophila, the insect is costing famers more than $700 million a year in lost produce and prevention costs.

If you’ve driven down the road alongside an overgrown fence or forested area in north Georgia lately, you were likely overwhelmed with a combination of fragrance from wild Japanese honeysuckle and Chinese privet. Many people assume they are native because they are so common, but neither one belongs on this continent. Both originated in Asia and were introduced to North America in the 1800s for ornamental uses in landscaping.