Alabama Wages War Against the Perfect Weed 360
pickens writes "Dan Berry writes in the NY Times that the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Cogongrass, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.' Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over fields and forests, ruining crops, destroying native plants, upsetting the ecosystem,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill. It burns extremely hot. And its serrated leaves and grainy composition mean that animals with even the most indiscriminate palates — goats, for example — say no thanks.' Alabama's overall strategy is to draw a line across the state at Highway 80 and eradicate everything north of it; then, in phases, to try to control it to the south. But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one application of herbicide, you have to return several months later and do it again. 'People think this is just a grass,' says forester Stephen Pecot. 'They don't understand that cogongrass can replace an entire ecosystem.' Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Michigan.'"
The perfect weed? (Score:5, Funny)
Here in British Columbia we don't wage war on it, it's our #1 export.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:4, Funny)
Out here on the opposite coast, another kind of weed is flourishing.
Japanese Knotweed. The stuff grows insanely fast and spreads rhizomatically, so it's a bitch to kill.
And the really sad thing is that when it's 8 feet tall and in blossom it must look like the catch of the day for the cops, because they keep flying over to check out the encroaching patch.
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There is some of the real stuff growing along the roads out west too, but the THC content is so low that you would probably only get a headache, but if you pick it or go near it on a road side, then the cops will definitely arrest you. I also thought that BC only had the stuff for medical cases? You gotta wonder why just one guy would need tons of this stuff? Being from the south, I think I would rank kudzu above all. It is a useful plant though and maybe there could be a little more uses from it with some
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:5, Informative)
Being from the south, I think I would rank kudzu above all.
My goats will clean up kudzu like it's candy. Not only will they strip the leaves, you'll see them standing on their hind legs trying to drag the vines down out of the trees. They eat leaves, vines, stems, roots and all. Reminds of a casino buffet on seafood night. And because they have a 4 chambered stomach, the digestion process pretty much kills the seeds. I've never seen them spread it anyway. As a bonus, goats can handle the terrain kudzu seems to thrive in.
If goats don't eat cogongrass, then that is some bad stuff. They can strip the leaves off blackberry bushes while avoiding the stickers, all they leave behind are stands of dead stalks. If it's that bad...that's a real problem.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:5, Interesting)
Kudzu makes decent forage. Kudzu hay typically has a 15-18% crude protein content and over 60% total digestible nutrient value, slightly lower on longer vines. Unfortunately it's hard to bale and store.
Since it stores a lot of starch in the roots, they can regenerate for a long time. My goats will eat anything that doesn't break off in the ground, including the seed pods. If they're still around, kudzu won't be able to get started again. They'll eat any vines that start. That includes kudzu, but also wild grape vines, poison ivy, and just about anything else that grows on a vine.
If we could cultivate the market for goat meat in the US, those vast areas overgrown by kudzu would immediately turn into potential grazing land. Of course, in an environmentally sensitive area, the goats would be almost as hard on native plants as the kudzu. So there are trade offs both ways. But since goat is a red meat with roughly the same caloric value and 1/2 the fat of skinless chicken, 50% lower fat than beef, and 1/3 the calories of pork you'd think we'd be eating more goat.
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Pound for pound, goats also produce milk more efficiently than dairy cattle. That reminds me, I've got some goat ribs in the freezer I've been meaning to cook up.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:5, Informative)
Under similar circumstances in Australia the CSIRO http://www.csiro.au/science/PestManagement.html [csiro.au] , would investigate the weed species, find it's country of origin, find insects, bacteria or fungi that feed on it and then bring back samples under controlled conditions. These species would then be tested against Australian native plants and commercial species and those imported species that do not predate upon those would then be tested for survivability in the regions most affected by the weed species. Once the optimum control species are found they are released into the environment to control the weed species.
Although this is by far the most cost effective method of control it often not very popular in capitalism first, last and everything in between countries as there is no opportunity for profit in the solution as it must be given away free, to spread on it's own. In the case of the US the USDA http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/ [invasivespeciesinfo.gov] is the likely agency that should be working on those problems on a federal basis. So rather than throwing away money on spraying and, spraying and, spraying, better to pursue the USDA and get them working on long term biological solutions, where it is all about saving money while saving the environment.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:4, Informative)
Nope, they can pick off even tiny leaves off sticker bushes without getting stuck. There were places on the property that were stands of dead, stripped sticker stalks. A couple years ago you couldn't even see through those places. Their hide is tough so they don't have any trouble walking through the thickets. Their lips and tongues have amazing dexterity. They can pick individual pellets out of their grain bin while avoiding the moldy ones.
I have a blog [dangercollie.com] if you're interested. I'll try to get some video of them browsing to show how precise they can be, but it's hard because any time I'm out in the pasture they crowd around begging for cookies. If nothing else I'll try to take some pictures of the decimated blackberry bushes.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I've seen a goat eating a blackberry bush before. It ate everything - the stem, leaves and thorns. It must be that leather tongue. It cleaned out the whole blackberry patch.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:4, Funny)
Their lips and tongues have amazing dexterity.
This explains so much about the rumors I've heard of backwater mountain areas.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:5, Funny)
http://magiccards.info/al/en/113.html [magiccards.info] Kudzu isn't all that hard to destroy - even http://magiccards.info/al/en/202.html [magiccards.info] will do the trick
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Re:The perfect weed? (Score:4, Interesting)
> Out here on the opposite coast, another kind of weed is flourishing.
> Japanese Knotweed.
True that. Have seen it take over miles and miles of banks on the Delaware
river. Nothing else survives!
AFAIK you have to cut it carefully and then actually burn it. This stuff will
sprout even on a compost where you threw the cut-off plants. Any ideas to
prevent regrowth at the original site...salt on the roots perhaps?
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmm... I'd better pre-order some gorillas now, before winter gets here.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:4, Funny)
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Japanese Knotweed. The stuff grows insanely fast and spreads rhizomatically, so it's a bitch to kill.
I was going to post on this but you beat me to it. It's virtually impossible to kill. I've helped dig it up before and have discovered roots that exceed 20 feet in length. Nothing native to the Americas seems to be able to compete with it. It's a real PITA.
Re:The perfect weed? (Score:4, Informative)
The United States is now home to some of the most unruly plants in the world, like Kudzu vine, which has caused farmers to abandon crops at first sight of the vines at field's edge. It can be seen sneaking across highways on the lightning wires over power lines, and creating strange sculptures of the barns, tractors, and forests it covers throughout the southeast. Florida has two of these plants, the Kajeput, and the Australian Pine (Aussies call it American Pine..Apparently, nobody wants it) Both of these trees were introduced by the US Army Corps of Engineers to perform some function ancillary to one or another of their endeavors, but now reviled as environmentally obnoxious in their ability to grow in any condition from standing water to alkali flat. Kajeput has the additional benefit of burning hot to its top (oily sap and leaves) thereby killing off the native palms that used to survive naturally occurring fires. Remember what Newton said, "Nature abhors a vacuum". And stuff like these plants, and some of the other, more mobile creatures that have apparently taken heart and moved on from their original, pest-opposed environments, are now enjoying the benefits of life with no natural opposition, except people.
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> Here in British Columbia we don't wage war on it, it's our #1 export.
Now imagine a hybrid...a joint venture so to speak between AL and BC. :-)
Northern Cogon anyone?
Kudzu (Score:5, Funny)
Nice.
I'll have to plant some of that inbetween the patches of kudzu.
Now I only need a face-eater and I'll finally have a respectable death-world themed garden.
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Well the real question is which is going to win out, Kudzu, cogongrass, or crown vetch....
Dr. E
Killing is so 1940's (Score:3, Insightful)
Alternatively mutate goats to have no sense of taste.
Re:mutate goats to have no sense of taste (Score:5, Funny)
Having seen goats chewing happily on pieces of clothing and other garbage, mutating goats to have no sense of taste sounds to me like mutating rabbits to have long ears. (I was planning to write something slightly different but less suited for small children and Americans here.)
The basis is sound. (Score:2, Interesting)
I think they're barking up the wrong tree; controlling the weed seems like an expensive pasttime. Instead, I'd combat it genetically:
- start building up cultures of the weed, test the characteristics of different strains (go for ones that are more susceptible to infections, aphids, lower burn temperatures, less serrated edges, etc), breed these together, and create a weaker strain; distribute that across infested regions to weaken the weed.
- start building up cultures of creatures that can (potentially) see
Re:The basis is sound. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think they're barking up the wrong tree; controlling the weed seems like an expensive pasttime. Instead, I'd combat it genetically: - start building up cultures of the weed, test the characteristics of different strains (go for ones that are more susceptible to infections, aphids, lower burn temperatures, less serrated edges, etc), breed these together, and create a weaker strain; distribute that across infested regions to weaken the weed.
Surely natural selection would just mean that the weaker versions of the weed would be selected against and so their genes would be eliminated from the gene pool again, leaving just the toughest varieties?
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Re:The basis is sound. (Score:4, Funny)
Bugs are also bugs of the land. Does your algorithm ends with gorillas dying off in the winter?
simpsons reference to invasive species (Score:5, Informative)
its a simpsons reference when new lizards are introduced
From Wikipedia:
Since the town considered the pigeons to be a nuisance, they are delighted with the fact that the lizards have eaten all the pigeons. As a result, Bart is thanked and honored by Mayor Quimby with a loganberry scented candle. Lisa worries that the town will now become infested by lizards rather than the pigeons, but Skinner assures her that they will send in Chinese Needle Snakes, then snake-eating gorillas, and then "winter will take care of the rest."
Re:mutate goats to have no sense of taste (Score:5, Funny)
Re:mutate goats to have no sense of taste (Score:5, Funny)
It's OK. It is obvious that you are a product of the public school system.
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Who the fuck are you calling "foul mouthed", you cock-sucking sonofabitch?!
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Mutate it to bring forth a strain which is tasty, and make those genes dominant. In 50 years time the goats will come around. Alternatively mutate goats to have no sense of taste.
..... but then it won't spread so fast cos it's busy being eaten, and so unmutated strain will outcompete it leaving you back at square one.... Anything that is so undiscriminating about what it eats will probably eat everything else, posing another problem.
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Mutate it to bring forth a strain which is tasty, and make those genes dominant. In 50 years time the goats will come around. Alternatively mutate goats to have no sense of taste.
..... but then it won't spread so fast cos it's busy being eaten, and so unmutated strain will outcompete it leaving you back at square one.... Anything that is so undiscriminating about what it eats will probably eat everything else, posing another problem.
If it was evolution, yes, but one could simply "spread the seeds."
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If it was evolution, yes, but one could simply "spread the seeds."
Exactly. Spread the seeds for the weak strain, and then kill off the strong strain so that the seeds can grow without competition, and before long the strong strain will have been completely eliminated!
Re:Killing is so 1940's (Score:4, Interesting)
Genetic alteration to make inedible things food (oh, sorry, got that backwards -- make food inedible) is so 1970s.
We've got to figure out how to turn this stuff into biodiesel.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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That's not how it works. Just because the gene is dominant, doesn't mean that it will spread.
Disappointed (Score:5, Funny)
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Yeah right me too! Nothing about the smokability and I RTFA!!
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Don't worry, they've been waging a decades-long war against that one too. Maybe they'll have more success against this one...
Re:Disappointed (Score:5, Funny)
from roadtrip..... (Score:2)
yea...same here...for some reason, I thought of that one scene from one of the Road Trip movies...where the nerd develops the "perfect weed" that is undetectable....etc.
Re:Disappointed (Score:5, Funny)
But therein lies the solution. Get Monsanto to genetically modify pollen from the plant to include huge quantities of THC. Release pollen into the wild. As the THC levels in the plants rise, tell the stoners that pot may be illegal but this stuff isn't even on the radar. Inform Frito-Lay to ramp up production. Then I guess I'll just stick a few ???'s in here and declare profit!
Perfect crime/terrorism (Score:3, Funny)
Genetically engineer a variante of that grass that is resistant to herbicides and infest your "favorite" competitor's/enemy's fields.
Criminials and terrorists these days are all about the quick short term damages. Nobody thinks about long term, sustainable damage these days. *sigh* Amateurs!
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Don't even think of this. In the first half of 1950s, East Europe took for granted that the invasion of Leptinotarsa decemlineata that took place at that time was the evil work of American imperialists and their agents, even though there certainly was no positive proof of that. On the Internet, there is a scan of a cute public notice from that time signed by a "Regional Commisioner for Erradicating the American Beetle". There were even educational books for the kids [mac.com], which were a little less cute.
So if you
Re:Perfect crime/terrorism (Score:5, Funny)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Grass meet vehicle undercarriage, boots, wheels etc. Equipment, meet grass.
If there's any soldier from Alabama over there in Afghanistan - and I bet there's more than one or two, I guess - then the weed will already be there.
Afghanistan is still busy eradicating several other pests, so that weed is not on the priority list yet. After all, it helps against soil erosion, is pretty durable and could make Afghanistan look much greener than today. Maybe it's not so bad when the current status is naked soil every
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fuel source candidate (Score:4, Funny)
If it can be processed as fuel and ever spread to Michigan.. "Hey GM, fuel comes to you!"
Alternatively, an army of junk weed smoker could eradicate it better than goats.
burning (Score:3, Interesting)
Doesn't even need to be pelletized. They have outside furnaces now that are designed to take big round bales. And I imagine any coal burning plant has the means to take the stuff in bulk as well. But then harvesting it and moving it around would just spread the seeds further.
With that said, there probably isn't any chemical control that would work, although that monsanto "terminator" gene tech might. Still risky though.
Invasive species are a PITA, I am always having to deal with them here. For example I hav
Turn in into advantage ! (Score:5, Interesting)
If it is that resilient and fast growing, you will not be able to control it anyhow. Many, many examples of invasive species throughout the world show this. So, just learn how to harvest it and make biodiesel/biogas/electricity out of it. No intensive agriculture, ferilizers or herbicides needed. Plus, this might piss off the corn/ethanol lobby enough to actually start taking action against the grass. Ether way, we win. Oh yeah, biodiversity losses, but that is shafted anyway...
Re:Turn in into advantage ! (Score:5, Funny)
I understand that there is a species of lizard that feasts on this grass. Maybe that is an option.
Re:Turn in into advantage ! (Score:4, Insightful)
I understand that there is a species of lizard that feasts on this grass. Maybe that is an option.
And the introduce Chinese Needle Snakes when you're overrun with lizards, yes?
Re:Turn in into advantage ! (Score:5, Funny)
And the introduce Chinese Needle Snakes when you're overrun with lizards, yes?
And when you're overrun with Chinese Needle Snakes, introduce more Chinese fast food restaurants.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
No, you introduce gorillas. They thrive on snake meat.
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
No, no, you see, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Re:Turn in into advantage ! (Score:4, Informative)
That has been tried a number of times, and each time ended in a epic fail. For a case study, talk to any Aussie about Rabbits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_Australia [wikipedia.org] or about the cane toad see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad [wikipedia.org]
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Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Didn't TFS say that this weed burns unusually hot? Sounds perfect for a fuel source.
Re:Turn in into advantage ! (Score:5, Informative)
Thing is, it does a lot more damage than the dreaded corn plantations [nps.gov]:
ECOLOGICAL THREAT Cogon grass can invade and overtake disturbed ecosystems, forming a dense mat of thatch and leaves that makes it nearly impossible for other plants to coexist. Large infestations of cogon grass can alter the normal fire regime of a fire-driven ecosystem by causing more frequent and intense fires that injure or destroy native plants. Cogon grass displaces a large variety of native plant species used by native animals (e.g., insects, mammals, and birds) as forage, host plants and shelter. Some ground-nesting species have also been known to be displaced due to the dense cover that cogon grass creates.
Also, it won't just stay together in a patch but it reaches out [wikipedia.org]. WP dixit:
It spreads both through small seeds, which are easily carried by the wind, and rhizomes which can be transported by tilling equipment and in soil transport.
Nasty thing.
Re: (Score:2)
It apparently burns even when green. So using it to fuel a powerstation is the most obvious use.
BR> No intensive agriculture, ferilizers or herbicides needed.
Considering how much herbicide is needed to kill it it's only a matter of time before resistance evolves.
Combatting Congress (Score:2, Funny)
I totally read this as
"Congress, a.k.a. the perfect weed"
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps Useful? Biomass to fuel? (Score:4, Interesting)
Why not grind it up and compost it to make methane or something.
Japanese Knot Weed (Score:5, Informative)
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Its payback for all the blackberry homesick poms planted in Australia.
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What's that you say? (Score:2)
The State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Congress?
Sounds a lot like Kudzu (Score:5, Informative)
This sounds a lot like Kudzu - another plant brought over from Japan.
From TFA "For a while, government officials encouraged the use of cogongrass as a forage crop and as a way to stem soil erosion."
We did that with Kudzu too. What's with these agricultural guys promoting alien species they clearly know nothing about ?
Although, if nothing wants to eat it, why promote it as a forage crop ? That does suggest that some animal must like it. There must be some reason why the South of Japan is not one mass of Kudzu and cogongrass.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
You can eat kudzu leaves as salad or boiled greens. Goats will eat it as well.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
There must be some reason why the South of Japan is not one mass of Kudzu and cogongrass.
The reason is called "evolution". If you have it around long enough, animals will adapt to eat it. If nothing else works, they will during the first starvation period.
If you introduce it to a new ecosystem, you have to wait for a few ten-thousand years or so before that happens. Clearly, the governor is not a patient man.
Re:Sounds a lot like Kudzu (Score:4, Funny)
There must be some reason why the South of Japan is not one mass of Kudzu and cogongrass.
There's a reason [wikipedia.org] but I don't think you're gonna like it.
Re:Sounds a lot like Kudzu (Score:5, Insightful)
Just don't try introducing ANOTHER alien species to try and achieve balance, it will just lead to other problems that disturb the ecosystem
I'm not sure what this "balance" thing is that people keep on talking about. It's as if they believe that ecosystems without humans are in some kind of stable equilibrium, which is bizarre and counter-factual. Not only do new species show up now and then without human intervention, environmental conditions change, and species-interactions occur, that prevent anything remotely resembling stability beyond the very basic level required for the moderately long-term persistance of life.
It is certainly the case that any analysis of ecosystems that assumes general equilibrium as a starting point is going to miss almost everything important, like the pre-Darwinian gradualists who didn't understand that sudden, violent change was an important driver of geologic history.
From a human, economic, point of view this weed is a pain. From nature's point of view--assuming it had one--this weed is a success, and the more rapidly it extends its range the more successful it will be. If you value ecosystemic "balance" then you should be rooting for the weed (as it were) because the sooner humans stop interfering with its spread the sooner a new quasi-equilibrium will be established. If, on the other hand, you are simply a conservative, and value the world as it is because that is the world you know, you should say so and argue on that basis, and not impute your conservative beliefs to some equilibrium principle that is false to fact.
Absolutes destroy reason (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure what this "balance" thing is that people keep on talking about. It's as if they believe that ecosystems without humans are in some kind of stable equilibrium, which is bizarre and counter-factual. Not only do new species show up now and then without human intervention, environmental conditions change, and species-interactions occur, that prevent anything remotely resembling stability beyond the very basic level required for the moderately long-term persistance of life.
And it seems that you believe that because absolute statism is impossible, all changes are equal.
No there's no such thing as "balance" as some kind of permanent thing. Yes ecosystems change without human intervention. But when stated as such absolutes, these statements are essentially meaningless. You are quite deliberately not drawing a distinction between the mountains eventually eroding, and them being bulldozed into the ocean in a week.
If you don't take a literal absolutist definition of "balance" as "statism", then it's obvious that there is a balance in our ecosystems. Yes they change, borders between ecosystems move, species adapt, yet these things all happen together, maintaining over time a balance despite change. Because they aren't mutually exclusive opposites in the real world of shades of gray. The whole reason why these introduced plants are a problem is because they didn't evolve here. Thus their impact in this ecosystem clearly differs from that of any organism that did evolve here, or with their impact in the ecosystem they did evolve in.
That is the kind of balance we're talking about. Not an absolutist balance, but the natural kind where species co-evolve. No you can't maintain anything like this over the long term in the face of ice ages and other geologic/climate changes, no you can't prevent any species from ever being introduced to an environment where it did not evolve and has a disruptive effect, but that's fine, nobody is saying we must. But there's a reason the last major extinction event occurred after humans arrived, with millennia of relative stability before even in the face of advancing or retreating glaciers.
So just because change is inevitable, that does not mean we humans should not try, nor be concerned with, avoiding being the instrument of rapid and destructive change. That's a foolish, irresponsible view which is what absolutism always is.
If you value ecosystemic "balance" then you should be rooting for the weed (as it were) because the sooner humans stop interfering with its spread the sooner a new quasi-equilibrium will be established.
Ridiculous, as the shortest path to "quasi-equilibrium" is to return to the one that the introduction of this weed by humans disturbed. Introduce an invasive species, then don't "interfere" with it -- this is exactly the kind of thing this strawman-based absolutist "logic" leads to.
If, on the other hand, you are simply a conservative, and value the world as it is because that is the world you know, you should say so and argue on that basis, and not impute your conservative beliefs to some equilibrium principle that is false to fact.
Oh please. If you can't see any consequences to destroying the ecosystems that evolved on this continent in the blink of an eye beyond economic inconvenience and sentimentality, then you have no business lecturing others as if you understand the issues here.
Re:Sounds a lot like Kudzu (Score:4, Insightful)
You raise a good point--that ecosystems are not static--but you're overlooking the amount of drastic change that can be introduced by humans. "Stable" is not "static" and need not be followed by "equilibrium." There are such things as "stable growth" and "stable markets," both of which imply some level of change.
New species do colonize ecosystems without human intervention, but their introduction is generally gradual, through slow geographical expansion which results in their introduction to ecosystems related to the original. What we have here is much more akin to the sudden, violent change you mentioned, and that kind of change is the biggest threat to our species.
If you value ecosystems' stability, you should be fighting the weed tooth and nail because to allow it to expand will quite possibly result in a violent change to the ecosystem that is bad for us. Saying, "Well it's already here, best to stop fighting it so it'll stabilize into a new ecosystem" is akin to saying, "Well, yes, we know we're causing climate change, but we should just go full steam ahead so the planet gets used to its new atmosphere."
Welcome to Michigan (Score:5, Funny)
Thanks for visiting! (Score:2)
green fuel (Score:5, Insightful)
Energy crops for green fuel (Score:5, Insightful)
There are a number of hints that say that we're dealing with a great energy-crop:
1. It burns extremely hot (yay)
2. It grows fast (good)
3. It certainly won't require herbicides (meaning it's "biological").
We just need some biologists to turn this stuff into fuel (ethanol)... alternatively, it can be pelletized.
Re:Energy crops for green fuel (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
of course all the energy is there, but how much do we obtain and how much do we waste? that's the question.
No, it wasn't.
You brought up carbon emissions, which is by definition 1:1 since it is neither created or destroyed in a purely chemical process.
Stop being wrong on the Internet.
The amazing stuff about this is... (Score:2, Funny)
Burns extremely hot? (Score:2, Insightful)
Really, what's the problem here? A sustainable biofuel crop that produces heat very efficiently, and grows rapidly? Isn't that exactly what the greendroids have been looking for all this time?
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Run for your lives! (Score:4, Informative)
Then there's the Florida Pythons (not a new comedy team), South American Fire ants and First Amongst Equals the Cane Toad in Oz.
However I do believe the English landed Gentry managed to finish off the last member of the Coypu Colony (sort of giant hamster) but have had no success with the now wild and thoroughly naturalised Mink which is doing an "Alien" along the clogged up waterways ripping everything with a heartbeat to shreds as it advances further and further North.
Thanks in most part to: Stupidity, Cack Science, well-meaning Animal Libbers, Globalisation and the simple fellow who thought it would be a great idea to have those charming racoons climbing in and out of German wheelie bins (a sort of Euro-dumpster)
SEED MARS! (Score:4, Interesting)
Here, fixed the summary for you (Score:5, Funny)
"... the State of Alabama is spending millions of dollars in federal stimulus money to combat Congress, a.k.a. the perfect weed, the killer weed, and the weed from another continent. A weed that 'evokes those old science-fiction movies in which clueless citizens ignore reports of an alien invasion.'
Congress (Imperialista corruptivus) is considered one of the 10 worst weeds in the world. 'It can take over farms and factories, ruining cops, destroying Native Americans, upsetting the economic system,' writes Berry. 'It is very difficult to kill.' But the weed is so resilient that you can't kill it with one election, you have to return two years later and do it again. Left unchecked, Pecot says 'it could spread all the way to Europe.'"
It's everywhere. (Score:4, Informative)
I just love the Wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] on this stuff. It's pretty clinical and detached, until you get to the bottom and see where it's listed as a 'native' species:
Categories: Poaceae | Invasive plant species | Flora of the Canary Islands | Flora of Algeria | Flora of Egypt | Flora of Morocco | Flora of Ethiopia | Flora of Kenya | Flora of Tanzania | Flora of Uganda | Flora of Burundi | Flora of Cameroon | Flora of Gabon | Flora of Rwanda | Flora of Benin | Flora of Burkina Faso | Flora of Ghana | Flora of Guinea | Flora of Liberia | Flora of Mali | Flora of Nigeria | Flora of Senegal | Flora of Sierra Leone | Flora of Togo | Flora of Malawi | Flora of Mozambique | Flora of Zambia | Flora of Zimbabwe | Flora of Botswana | Flora of Lesotho | Flora of Namibia | Flora of South Africa | Flora of Swaziland | Flora of Oman | Flora of Yemen | Flora of Afghanistan | Flora of Cyprus | Flora of Iran | Flora of Iraq | Flora of Israel | Flora of Turkey | Flora of Armenia | Flora of Azerbaijan | Flora of Georgia (country) | Flora of Russia | Flora of China | Flora of Japan | Flora of Korea | Flora of Bhutan | Grasses of India | Flora of Nepal | Flora of Pakistan | Flora of Sri Lanka | Flora of Cambodia | Flora of Laos | Flora of Burma | Flora of Thailand | Flora of Vietnam | Flora of Indonesia | Flora of Malaysia | Flora of Papua New Guinea | Flora of the Philippines | Poales of Australia | Flora of Queensland | Flora of Victoria (Australia) | Flora of Tasmania | Angiosperms of Western Australia | Flora of South Australia | Flora of the Northern Territory | Flora of Greece | Flora of Italy | Flora of France | Flora of Portugal | Flora of Spain
I, for one, welcome our silica-edged (!) sawtooth grass overlords.
I live in Alabama (Score:3, Interesting)
If the spread of Cogongrass means fewer bugs to annoy us, fewer trees to topple over and kill people, fewer birds who block vents with their nests, fewer deer to ruin cars, I don't think any locals would care. We have too much nature as it is. Alabama turns into a black river of roaches at night, a yellow fog of meat bees during the day, a green carpet of fallen leaves and trees during storms. Every shoe, dark corner in the house is inhabited by aggressive scorpions who come at us. Our walkway is a highway for the local population of leprosy-carrying armadillos. We keep our house very clean, and all food (including crackers) is immediately put in the refrigerator, but every morning, we wake up to a mass grave of dead beetles on the pesticide-treated carpet. Birds have figured out how to break into vent grills and build nests inside. We avoid the woods because the grass carries a black fog of disease-carrying ticks. If you think I'm making this up, you haven't lived here. We live in Alabama's biggest city, and in the countryside it's worse. Every rainstorm means the roads turn into an obstacle course of fallen trees, and it's extremely dangerous. A lot of cows, horses, boars, armadillos, dogs, deer, and other animals threaten drivers. Street lights that work are scarce, so at night everything becomes as dark as a cave. Driving is considered a man's job in the countryside.
Environmentalism is valued by people who live in big cities, for whom forests appear to be a scarce resource.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I lived in Alabama (Huntsville) for over 20 years, and it's not as bad as you describe. Sure, stuff grows well there, but it's not as though you can't use the roads because of the deer and you can't open your doors for fear of roaches and yellowjackets.
The only real threatening endemic species is rednecks.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
With the recent torrential rains we've had, we do check the door before opening, since there is about a 50% chance of seeing a roach or yellowjacket outside the door. The other night, my relative's porch was overrun with palmettos, we couldn't count them all. Their roof awning is abuzz with the sounds of dozens of carpenter bees drilling holes. Every time I come back from my relative's house on top of a mountain at night, it turns into an odyssey of mysterious blobs of kudzu, and cat faces, coyote faces
Biomass for Electricity? (Score:3, Interesting)
Grows anywhere? Doesn't need to be watered or fertilized? Sounds like a possible biomass for electricity production to me, and a cheap one. Maybe this plant could also be used to hinder desertification.
Ah, crap! (Score:4, Funny)
It never rains but it pours :-(
Not only do we have the oil fields drying up so alternative fuels are needed to run power stations but now we have this useless, oily, hot-burning plant that grows like crazy anywhere and nobody knows how to get rid of it.
Alabama State Fighting Against Evolution (Score:4, Funny)
Isn't this just typical of the American South and Bible Belt?
Here we have a very visible proof of evolution in action (one species moving into a new area and out competing everything else), and what does the Alabama state government do? They try to eradicate that proof in a foolish attempt to show that an intelligently designed ecosystem is better, especially when it's helped by God's chosen: man.
I say to the silent majority of Americans who aren't buying into intelligent design, that you should rise up and fight this atrocity. Go out there and plant Cogongrass in your nears gardens, parks, forests and wildlife areas! Viva la Evolutión!
</joke>
Never mind the grass, what truck does he drive? (Score:3, Informative)
To save you looking at the slideshow, yes, of course it's a Toyota.
Re:The Perfect Weed? (Score:4, Insightful)
My thoughts exactly... this weed needs to be crossbred with Cannibis immediately!
Actually, that's a great idea. It could shift a large part of the eradication effort to the federal budget, saving Alabama a fortune.