On November 8, 2011, a news article was posted on Maui Now stating that a final environmental assessment was released for the introduction of a small scale insect to control the spread of the invasive strawberry guava plant in Hawaiʻi’s native forests. I was surprised to read this because I was not even aware that there was a problem with the strawberry guava in Hawaiʻi, I wasn’t even aware that it was invasive plant. So, I read on to learn more about the issue, and it continued to say that strawberry guava is a non-native plant that is to blame for overtaking hundreds of thousands of acres in Hawaiʻi since its introduction in 1825. State wildlife biologist, Dr. Fern P. Duvall, said “I am certain it is one of the very worst of habitat altering, invasive weeds to ever get a foothold in Hawai‘i.”
The first question I could think of was, is the spread of these invasive strawberry guavas bad enough to have to introduce a foreign insect to Hawaiʻi? How do we know that this insect won’t cause even greater damage to our native forests? The article continued to give information on the insect by stating that the small scale insect or the Tectococcus ovatus (T. ovatus) would provide natural control of the strawberry guava, according to the US Forest Service. The agency has determined that it will not harm any other native or beneficial plants or insects if introduced in the state. The determination was made after more than 15 years of tests by the agency to find a natural control insect for the strawberry guava plant. If they were trying to push to solve this issue for 15 years, they must have done all the research needed to conclude that this insect is what’s best for the strawberry guava problem. The article also said that when the biocontrol insect is released, strawberry guava will still be able to grow, but will be naturally controlled, which will lead to it being less invasive to the forest.
After being fully educated about the problem and solution that was came about through the news article, I’m in full support of the introduction of this small scale insect to Hawaiʻi to help the invasive spread of strawberry guava trees. I saw pictures of how widely spread the trees are throughout the islands and the dense amount of them in the areas, and I was shocked. I never realized that there was so much growing, even throughout ʻIao Valley, here on Maui. I do think that this insect would help to stabilize the rapid spread and growth of the strawberry guava. I just hope that the researchers’ conclusion will come out accurate and that the introduction does not wipe out the guavas completely, because they’re so ʻono loa!
References:
http://mauinow.com/2011/11/08/biocontrol-to-begin-against-strawberry-guava/#more-45951http://mauinow.com/files/2011/11/Current-and-future-infestation-map.jpg
http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/ipif/strawberryguava/strawberry_guava.shtml
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