<\/p>\n
Yellow-legged hornets an invasive species and serious threat to South Carolina agriculture, especially when it comes to the beekeeping industry. The hornets are native to Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture<\/p>\n
South Carolina\u2019s wildly diverse ecosystem is one of the state\u2019s greatest assets, but it also contributes to one of its biggest challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re one of the few states that have beaches and coastal areas and swamps, we also have mountains, and we have everything in-between,\u201d Steven H. Long said. \u201cWhen a pest pops up in the swamp somewhere on the coast or high up in the mountains, it\u2019s often unseen and undetected for many years, and by the time its detected, sometimes the problem is too far gone to control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Long serves as Assistant Director of Clemson University\u2019s Department of Plant Industry<\/a>, working directly with the state government and leading various efforts to regulate and eradicate damaging invasive species. He\u2019s also a member of the Board of Directors at the National Plant Board<\/a>, a non-profit with a presence in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam.<\/p>\n Long\u2019s department focuses on invasive species that either aren\u2019t yet established in the state or can still be successfully eradicated. Their high-priority targets include the following:<\/p>\n The Yellow-legged Hornet<\/a>,<\/a> an exotic, predatory insect that attacks pollinators like honeybees. They are native to Asia but have infested the low country and seriously threaten local agriculture.Cogongrass<\/a>, an invasive Asian weed that attacks and kills critical native plants.The Asian Longhorned Beetle<\/a>, which attacks forests, mainly preying on maple, willow, elm and birch trees.The Spotted Lanternfly<\/a>, an invasive pest which first arrived from Asia in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has spread across the country. Long said the species had likely spread too widely to be fully eradicated, but could still be managed, which will be important in protecting South Carolina\u2019s native grapes and peaches.<\/p>\n \u00b7 The Yellow-legged Hornet<\/a>,<\/a> an exotic, predatory insect that attacks pollinators like honeybees. They are native to Asia but have infested the low country and seriously threaten local agriculture.<\/p>\n \u00b7 Cogongrass<\/a>, an invasive Asian weed that attacks and kills critical native plants.<\/p>\n \u00b7 The Asian Longhorned Beetle<\/a>, which attacks forests, mainly preying on maple, willow, elm and birch trees.<\/p>\n \u00b7 The Spotted Lanternfly<\/a>, an invasive pest which first arrived from Asia in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has spread across the country. Long said the species had likely spread too widely to be fully eradicated, but could still be managed, which will be important in protecting South Carolina\u2019s native grapes and peaches.<\/p>\n David Coyle, a professor at Clemson, member of various organizations who served as president of the North American Invasive Species Management Association<\/a> and founder of the Southern Forest Health and Invasive Species program<\/a>, said invasive species are often introduced by human action.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople buy exotic animals and then sometimes they\u2019ll get sick of them and just let them go outside. That\u2019s how probably things like the Tegu Lizard got established here,\u201d Coyle said. \u201cPlants are also typically brought here on purpose, then both inadvertently and on purpose, they are also let go of the confines in which they where originally put in. Bamboo is a great example, people plant a patch of it and if it\u2019s not properly controlled, it just keeps going.\u201d<\/p>\n Coyle said insects and other arthropods often stow away unseen in cargo, but that regardless of transmission method, any invasive species should be taken seriously.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen something non-native gets to this part of the world in general, it doesn\u2019t have its natural biological control agents,\u201d Coyle said. \u201cThat\u2019s typically when we start seeing populations go higher.\u201d<\/p>\n Coyle said once populations start rising, it becomes harder and harder to stop them, which makes early sightings extremely important.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t eliminate it all, it\u2019s just going to keep bubbling up and keep going,\u201d Coyle said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have as good a guidance in terms of how we effectively manage Asian longhorned beetles or spotted lantern flies because they\u2019re so hard to find.<\/p>\n Long said that while the department is very active, they can\u2019t be everywhere, and that people reporting sightings of invasive species is essential to their work.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic reporting is critical,\u201d Long said. \u201cIf you see something, say something. If it looks strange, if it\u2019s an insect or a weed or a plant or even a plant disease, anything that looks remotely funny or weird, report that to someone.<\/p>\n Invasive species sighting reports, which are highly encouraged to include photos, can be submitted to the Clemson Department of Plant Industry<\/a> and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources,<\/a> or SCDNR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yellow-legged hornets an invasive species and serious threat to South Carolina agriculture, especially when it comes to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-771543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}