Re: NANFA-L-- screw worm fly and gambusia

Crail, Todd (tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu)
Wed, 17 May 2006 13:10:57 -0400

We might also keep in mind that the nature of the host lends itself to
irradication as well. I mean, c'mmon... How many humans own a cow or a sheep
and aren't aware of it's presence?

When you try and extrapolate success with a host that's this well known on
into something more nebulous like "tree species" or "ecosystems", the success
of your ability to monitor all potential hosts drops in orders of magnitude.
This is why I completely disagree with the ongoing USDA choices to make host
exclusion zones to control new plant parasites and pathogens. They just don't
work because you can't account for ALL of the hosts.

Put all of that into an aquatic system (either as a pathogen, like whirling
disease, or the organism as a "parasite" within the ecosystem) and you can't
really account for ANYTHING!

So I get really tired of hearing "screw worm success stories" (which I don't
think anyone was pushing as an idea on the list). That's like saying a single
drug bust in Miami is "winning the war on drugs".

Instead... Why don't they try and put the millions of dollars they're spending
on the next invader into figuring out how to manufacture pallets out of all
the plastics we're loading into landfills, or something, you know... useful.

My point is... The only thing that can work is introduction prevention. Until
we admit that's our real problem, we'll just continue being one.

Todd
The Carbon Sequestering Madness, Toledo, OH
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
http://www.farmertodd.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <dlmcneely-in-lunet.edu>
To: <nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2006 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- screw worm fly and gambusia

>
> It remains the case that release of sterile mosquitofish to control
> mosquitofish reproduction has no basis in life history. The technique
> works for screw worms, and for some other insects, because an
> individual female mates only one time. Saturate the environment with
> sterile males and the chance that she will find and mate with a
> fertile male is very small.
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