Bye, Bye #WineWednesdays
Devyn Barron | May 2018
September 12, 2014—as a farmer in rural Pennsylvania, you wake up at sunrise and head out on to the front porch to sip on your freshly brewed coffee. The air is cool and crisp, and the streams of morning sunlight illuminate the yellow scattered among the tree leaves that indicate the changing of seasons. Your vineyard has been a family legacy for decades, and the grapes are what you depend on to secure your family's livelihood and put food on the table.
While walking along the vineyards edge you come to a patch of vines that are wilting slightly. The grapes are wrinkled and are a pale plum rather than a ripe purple. It is only a tiny fraction of your vineyard so you make a note to check back up on it later, it may just be that patch of soil. After routinely checking the vineyard you follow the path along the forests edge back to the house, but something catches your eye—a glimpse of bright orange on a nearby red maple tree. It looks like a moth. With its wings spread flat on the bark of the tree, it is only about in inch long. It’s upper wings are tan and symmetrically spotted with large brown dots; it’s lower wings are layered with white and beige segments and an orange so bright it is almost a crimson red. It is unlike any moth you have ever seen in Pennsylvania, so just out of curiosity you report it to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
________________
February 7, 2018—“U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced $17.5 million in emergency funding to stop the spread of the spotted lanternfly in southeastern Pennsylvania”. Since its first spotting in 2014, this species has spread to over 6,900 square miles and impacted 13 state counties.
This beautifully, deceptive planthopper is slow to travel but has the ability to reach wide ranges because of its ability to lay egg masses on flat surfaces. This is actually how it came to the United States. Stone exports from China, where the spotted lanternfly is native, into Pennsylvania gave this species a new place to live. It has been sighted on up to 70 different plant species, but mainly feeds off of fruited plants like grapes, apples, plums, and maple trees. Spotted lanternflies suck the phloem sap from young stems and leaves in plants which typically leaves the plant susceptible to sooty mold, and this interferes with the plants ability to properly photosynthesize. This leaves Pennsylvania’s 18 billion dollar grape, apple, and logging industry, prone to a species traveling up to 10.6 miles per year.
The spotted lanternfly belongs to the planthopper superfamily Fulgoroidea, which is a dominant species group with over 14,000 species known. Like most species in this family, their eggs are hatched in early May and are matured by late July—an ideal time for newly budding fruit plants. The climate and suitability in the states of Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia are all able to host the spotted lanternfly.
Over my winter break in 2018, I had the incredible opportunity to meet with Dr. Jason Cryan, Deputy Director and Chief of Research & Collections at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. I was curious to see what his perspectives were on the current biodiversity crisis, coming from an entomologist. Out of pure curiosity I asked him about his experience or any specific research on invasive species, and he immediately referenced the spotted lanternfly. He picked up a little glass framed picture from his bookshelf of a couple of planthopper species and they were indeed beautiful in their own unique way. He told me about their story—where they come from, what they feed on, and how they were spreading through Pennsylvania.
This is a species that shares a story similar to other invasive species around the globe. Humans are more interconnected to one another than they have been throughout our species history. In a couple of hours and a plane ticket, a person can travel across the globe. Our species love for travel, curiosity, and more resources has allowed thousands, possibly millions, of species to pick up their lives in their native homes and attempt to set up shop in a new place. Although some species don’t survive in these new places, some like the spotted lanterfly, wreak havoc on the native ecosystems purely following their instincts.
Recently while walking through downtown Raleigh I passed the two-story tall, stainless steel globe attached to the corner of the museum. It reminded me of a reference Dr. Cryan made during our meeting a few months prior to a 30 year-long German study. He told me that they discovered a 75% decrease in biomass of insects over that short period of time. In an article based on the study Dr. Cryan sent me he stated, “Insects are responsible for critical environmental services … upon which the Earth’s environment—and, more pointedly, human activities—depend. Removal of those pieces of the natural puzzle can only be detrimental to the entire system.”
In native ecosystems, insects are crucial to maintaining its health and balance. Systems that we as humans would not survive without. The story of the spotted lanternfly highlights how just one species can make such a great impact on its environment while also reflecting a similar story to the one of human history—where we continuously push our boundaries and disrupt natural systems. Although people living in Pennsylvania come across the catchy and humorous hashtags, #peskypesks and #badbugs in their Facebook and Twitter feeds in reference to the spotted lanternfly, the problem of invasive species is very real. We need to take a step back and look at our globes addiction to global travel and resources, because #winewednesday may just be at risk.
Devyn Barron | May 2018
September 12, 2014—as a farmer in rural Pennsylvania, you wake up at sunrise and head out on to the front porch to sip on your freshly brewed coffee. The air is cool and crisp, and the streams of morning sunlight illuminate the yellow scattered among the tree leaves that indicate the changing of seasons. Your vineyard has been a family legacy for decades, and the grapes are what you depend on to secure your family's livelihood and put food on the table.
While walking along the vineyards edge you come to a patch of vines that are wilting slightly. The grapes are wrinkled and are a pale plum rather than a ripe purple. It is only a tiny fraction of your vineyard so you make a note to check back up on it later, it may just be that patch of soil. After routinely checking the vineyard you follow the path along the forests edge back to the house, but something catches your eye—a glimpse of bright orange on a nearby red maple tree. It looks like a moth. With its wings spread flat on the bark of the tree, it is only about in inch long. It’s upper wings are tan and symmetrically spotted with large brown dots; it’s lower wings are layered with white and beige segments and an orange so bright it is almost a crimson red. It is unlike any moth you have ever seen in Pennsylvania, so just out of curiosity you report it to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
________________
February 7, 2018—“U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced $17.5 million in emergency funding to stop the spread of the spotted lanternfly in southeastern Pennsylvania”. Since its first spotting in 2014, this species has spread to over 6,900 square miles and impacted 13 state counties.
This beautifully, deceptive planthopper is slow to travel but has the ability to reach wide ranges because of its ability to lay egg masses on flat surfaces. This is actually how it came to the United States. Stone exports from China, where the spotted lanternfly is native, into Pennsylvania gave this species a new place to live. It has been sighted on up to 70 different plant species, but mainly feeds off of fruited plants like grapes, apples, plums, and maple trees. Spotted lanternflies suck the phloem sap from young stems and leaves in plants which typically leaves the plant susceptible to sooty mold, and this interferes with the plants ability to properly photosynthesize. This leaves Pennsylvania’s 18 billion dollar grape, apple, and logging industry, prone to a species traveling up to 10.6 miles per year.
The spotted lanternfly belongs to the planthopper superfamily Fulgoroidea, which is a dominant species group with over 14,000 species known. Like most species in this family, their eggs are hatched in early May and are matured by late July—an ideal time for newly budding fruit plants. The climate and suitability in the states of Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia are all able to host the spotted lanternfly.
Over my winter break in 2018, I had the incredible opportunity to meet with Dr. Jason Cryan, Deputy Director and Chief of Research & Collections at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. I was curious to see what his perspectives were on the current biodiversity crisis, coming from an entomologist. Out of pure curiosity I asked him about his experience or any specific research on invasive species, and he immediately referenced the spotted lanternfly. He picked up a little glass framed picture from his bookshelf of a couple of planthopper species and they were indeed beautiful in their own unique way. He told me about their story—where they come from, what they feed on, and how they were spreading through Pennsylvania.
This is a species that shares a story similar to other invasive species around the globe. Humans are more interconnected to one another than they have been throughout our species history. In a couple of hours and a plane ticket, a person can travel across the globe. Our species love for travel, curiosity, and more resources has allowed thousands, possibly millions, of species to pick up their lives in their native homes and attempt to set up shop in a new place. Although some species don’t survive in these new places, some like the spotted lanterfly, wreak havoc on the native ecosystems purely following their instincts.
Recently while walking through downtown Raleigh I passed the two-story tall, stainless steel globe attached to the corner of the museum. It reminded me of a reference Dr. Cryan made during our meeting a few months prior to a 30 year-long German study. He told me that they discovered a 75% decrease in biomass of insects over that short period of time. In an article based on the study Dr. Cryan sent me he stated, “Insects are responsible for critical environmental services … upon which the Earth’s environment—and, more pointedly, human activities—depend. Removal of those pieces of the natural puzzle can only be detrimental to the entire system.”
In native ecosystems, insects are crucial to maintaining its health and balance. Systems that we as humans would not survive without. The story of the spotted lanternfly highlights how just one species can make such a great impact on its environment while also reflecting a similar story to the one of human history—where we continuously push our boundaries and disrupt natural systems. Although people living in Pennsylvania come across the catchy and humorous hashtags, #peskypesks and #badbugs in their Facebook and Twitter feeds in reference to the spotted lanternfly, the problem of invasive species is very real. We need to take a step back and look at our globes addiction to global travel and resources, because #winewednesday may just be at risk.