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from the insert-obligatory-Simpson's-joke-here dept.
Fleadom! Holland releases 5,000 fleas to solve knotweed problem:
Dutch researchers have released thousands of Japanese leaf fleas in hopes of getting a harmful and invasive plant species under control.
Japanese knotweed, also known as Asian knotweed, were first introduced to the Netherlands in the 19th century as an ornamental plant, but the species is now notoriously invasive. Its roots can damage concrete pavements and foundations and it is so proliferous that it chokes out local flora.
For the first time, the Dutch government issued an exemption on a nationwide ban on introducing an alien species to the Netherlands in order to combat the plant. 5,000 of the insects will be released on three field locations initially, to determine if they will survive the winter and establish themselves through the new year.
The leaf flea, also known as the Japanese knotweed psyllid (Aphalara itadori), is a natural predator of knotweed. It feeds on young shoots of knotweed plants and can slow down or even stop its growth by sucking on the nutritious sap of the plant.
Researchers from the Institute of Biology in Leiden, where Japanese knotweed was first brought into the Netherlands, started field experiments this week to use the psyllid as a "weapon" against the incendiary plant.
[...] As to whether the psyllid could turn the tables and cause widespread damage to other plants, Ms Lommen said: "There are very reliable methods to determine this. For example, extensive risk analyses have been performed for plant species in North America, England and Northwestern Europe.
[...] Japanese Knotweed is is classified as an invasive and destructive species in several countries
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 26 2020, @01:54PM (11 children)
If the fleas eat all the knotweed, will they then conveniently die, or will they find something else in Holland to eat?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @01:59PM (1 child)
Maybe I read that bit about surviving the winter wrong, I was assuming they wanted them to NOT survive the winter...
Just like the gorillas.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @06:26PM
They should require sterilization for all non-white migrants accepted for asylum. Apply triple the penalty for any crime committed.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Immerman on Monday October 26 2020, @02:03PM
Indeed. I hope they at least tested them on native plants in a controlled environment to see if there's something native they'll find more appealing than knotweed.
After all, there's a long history of intentionally introducing new invasive species to eliminate an existing one, only to make the problem worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @02:06PM (2 children)
I read in the Dutch news they already tested more than a hundred plant species if they would be targetted by these fleas, all were found to be negative. (source: https://nos.nl/artikel/2353353-duizenden-japanse-bladvlooien-in-natuur-om-japanse-duizendknoop-te-bestrijden.html) [nos.nl]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @04:35PM (1 child)
News at 11: Hungry fleas adapt to local food source when imported food source runs out
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Monday October 26 2020, @04:43PM
Next up: Tulip Pandemic, eaten to extinction!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 26 2020, @04:30PM (1 child)
They'll become carnivorous. Keep a close eye on your pets and kids
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday October 26 2020, @06:19PM
Perhaps we're being too pessimistic. It could be that thus the world-famous Dutch flea circus will be born.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @05:15PM
stroopwafels
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday October 27 2020, @04:08AM
Trust the Dutch to get upset when it's not weed.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2020, @06:28AM
I wonder why so many suckers believe this sort of stuff can work.
The fleas certainly have NOT driven the japanese knotweed to extinction where both came from... The weed certainly isn't rare in Japan.
It might work if the fleas can survive on other stuff and reproduce to huge amounts but will ALWAYS prefer knotweed when given the choice.
So their population will go up, and wherever knotweed appears, it gets wiped out.
BUT that means the fleas could end up being a bigger problem since they're eating other stuff...
It's just like a disease wiping us humans out. If we're their sole host, that's unlikely to happen - the disease and/or humans will tend to evolve to avoid extinction. But if the reservoir species of the disease is larger in population than the target species then yes the target species might go extinct. So for example a disease that kills both humans and chimps, could wipe out the chimps if humans keep spreading it to the chimps.
(Score: 3, Touché) by nitehawk214 on Monday October 26 2020, @02:03PM (8 children)
I can see absolutely nothing going wrong with this plan.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @02:12PM (2 children)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @04:36PM
She swallowed the fly to catch the scat, she swallowed the scat to mask the taste of the semen, she swallowed the semen because she's a fucking SLUT. Fucking S.L.U.T.!!!!!!
(Score: 2) by fadrian on Monday October 26 2020, @06:12PM
She's dead, of course.
That is all.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 26 2020, @05:14PM (3 children)
Presumably, the fleas that were released were individually tagged with numbered tags.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @08:27PM
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves in turn have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @10:21PM (1 child)
And genetically selected so that all the fleas in
Jurassic Parkthe experiment are female.(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday October 27 2020, @02:12PM
You misspelled lesbians.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2020, @06:22AM
I wonder why so many suckers believe this sort of stuff can work.
The fleas certainly have NOT driven the japanese knotweed to extinction where both came from...
It might work if the fleas can survive on other stuff and reproduce to huge amounts but will ALWAYS prefer knotweed when given the choice.
So their population will go up, and wherever knotweed appears, it gets wiped out.
But that means the fleas could end up being a bigger problem since they're eating other stuff...
It's just like a disease wiping us out. If we're their sole host, that's unlikely to happen (the disease and/or humans will tend to evolve so both won't go extinct). But if the reservoir species of the disease is larger in population than the target species then yes the target species might go extinct. So for example a disease that kills both humans and chimps, could wipe out the chimps if humans keep spreading it to the chimps.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday October 26 2020, @04:07PM (1 child)
Those plants will produce even more resveratrol as a result of being attacked by these bugs.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @08:28PM
...which will cure the coronavirus hoax right around the corner.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 26 2020, @04:27PM (4 children)
What happens when the ground is covered with fleas? Soon they'll have import elephants to get rid of baboons
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @10:03PM (1 child)
"What happens when the ground is covered with fleas?"
A flea market?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2020, @01:53PM
Flea market capitalism?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2020, @11:10PM (1 child)
Easy, they introduce the paperclip maximizer [wikipedia.org] to get rid of them.
In earnest though, I've been asking myself the same. While a laudable idea to employ natural predators instead of going chemical holocaust, do they have a natural predator of the fleas they can release if this goes wrong?
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Tuesday October 27 2020, @12:10PM
Of course they do. And a natural predator of that, when (not if) this goes wrong, and a natural predator for that natural predator, and so on. Soon, they'll be yearning for the time when they only had to deal with the knotweed infestation.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Monday October 26 2020, @09:29PM
They soon discover, too late, that knotweed is a cure for the Black Plague they get hit with from infected fleas!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Funny) by iWantToKeepAnon on Monday October 26 2020, @09:32PM
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday October 27 2020, @01:41AM
Is "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" out of copyright yet? It seems pertinent, but I don't want to get Soylent DCMAd.