Spring Break
Fighting off an invading force
UConn extension educator fights local invasive plant.
Tim Colegrove
Issue date: 3/23/05 Section: News
UConn resident cooperative extension educator Donna Ellis has a long and hostile history with little green men. The little green men Ellis has chosen to dedicate her life to combating are not the space-suit wearing, big headed phantoms of the American imagination you might expect. In fact, the little green men Ellis fights so hard against are not all that little, could hardly be classified as men and are primarily not even all that green either. Ellis is fighting an alien threat that has been in our backyards ever since sailing ships from distant lands brought people and, along with them, plant seeds to this continent. Ellis is fighting the ever present threat of the invasive plant.
Ellis specializes in a specific type of alien invader. Her nemesis is purple and stands at an intimidating 10 feet tall and is called Purple Loosestrife by nursery growers in the United States. Part of Ellis' job as a scientist has been encouraging, organizing and educating local community groups to take action against this invasive plant.
Ellis is trained in arming concerned citizens with a very strange weapon.
"I train beetle farmers," she said.
A number of years ago, scientists assigned to the task of finding a solution to the problem of how to be rid of Purple Loosestrife found that a certain beetle named the Galerucella beetle feeds almost entirely on the plant. On account of its appetite for the plant, Galerucella has become a kind of biological weapon in the fight to keep native species and ecosystems alive.
So what exactly defines a plant as invasive? According to information released by the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CTIPWG), invasive plants are essentially defined as any plant alien to Connecticut soil that has the ability to proliferate over large expanses of land while driving other less dominant native plants out.
The effects this process has on the ecosystem can be devastating. Local wildlife that once depended on native plants for sustenance is forced to find other places to feed and will leave the area to do so. This can, in turn, also affect a variety of species, most importantly those that are on the endangered lists.
Ellis specializes in a specific type of alien invader. Her nemesis is purple and stands at an intimidating 10 feet tall and is called Purple Loosestrife by nursery growers in the United States. Part of Ellis' job as a scientist has been encouraging, organizing and educating local community groups to take action against this invasive plant.
Ellis is trained in arming concerned citizens with a very strange weapon.
"I train beetle farmers," she said.
A number of years ago, scientists assigned to the task of finding a solution to the problem of how to be rid of Purple Loosestrife found that a certain beetle named the Galerucella beetle feeds almost entirely on the plant. On account of its appetite for the plant, Galerucella has become a kind of biological weapon in the fight to keep native species and ecosystems alive.
So what exactly defines a plant as invasive? According to information released by the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group (CTIPWG), invasive plants are essentially defined as any plant alien to Connecticut soil that has the ability to proliferate over large expanses of land while driving other less dominant native plants out.
The effects this process has on the ecosystem can be devastating. Local wildlife that once depended on native plants for sustenance is forced to find other places to feed and will leave the area to do so. This can, in turn, also affect a variety of species, most importantly those that are on the endangered lists.