VALLEY TREES TO GET WASP HELP; INSECT PLAN TO COUNTER EUCALYPTUS THREAT.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Woodland Hills, Valley Village and Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is situated in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,210 acres (17 km²) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. will be among the first Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, areas for release of a wasp that scientists hope will kill pests that are threatening eucalyptus trees. Officials plan to release the nonstinging wasps this spring at trial sites in sections hardest hit by the infestation infestation /in·fes·ta·tion/ (-fes-ta´shun) parasitic attack or subsistence on the skin and/or its appendages, as by insects, mites, or ticks; sometimes used to denote parasitic invasion of the organs and tissues, as by helminths. of redgum lerp psyllids. ``The idea is for the wasps to get ahold, multiply and feed on the redgum lerp psyllids,'' said Robert Donley, deputy director of the environmental protection bureau in the county Department of Agricultural Commissioner and Weights and Measures weights and measures, units and standards for expressing the amount of some quantity, such as length, capacity, or weight; the science of measurement standards and methods is known as metrology. . The psyllids so far have faced few enemies in their spread across Southern California and the Bay Area since being discovered in June last year - the worst infestation since the ash whitefly whitefly Any sap-sucking member of the insect family Aleyrodidae (order Homoptera). Nymphs are flat, oval, and usually covered with a cottony substance. Adults, 0.08–0.12 in. (2–3 mm) long, are covered with a white opaque powder and resemble moths. a decade ago. The infestation has been reported in 30 counties in the state. In Southern California, those areas hardest hit include North Hollywood, Valley Village, Torrance, Riverside and Palos Verdes Palos Verdes is often used to refer to a group of coastal cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Los Angeles/South Bay area of California. This affluent bedroom community is known for its dramatic views, good schools [1] extensive horse trails [2] , Scalise said. In the Valley, eucalyptuses are suffering severe defoliation that leaves them vulnerable to wood-boring pests. Importing the parasitic wasps from Australia for use in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. was the brainchild of Donald Dahlsten, a professor at the Center for Biological Control in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California at Berkeley (body, education) University of California at Berkeley - (UCB) See also Berzerkley, BSD. http://berkeley.edu/. Note to British and Commonwealth readers: that's /berk'lee/, not /bark'lee/ as in British Received Pronunciation. . He returned from Australia on Sept. 1 with about 200 of the wasps and has been studying them to ensure the wasps will eradicate the pests, but not become problems themselves. He believes the wasps will control the psyllids infestation by laying eggs in the insects and killing them. As a result of his exploratory trip to Australia, Dahlsten has reared at least one candidate parasitic wasp through its second generation at the Berkeley quarantine facility, county Agricultural Commissioner Cato Fiksdal wrote in a letter to the Board of Supervisors. ``Our office supplied more than 60 small eucalyptus host plants for Dr. Dahlsten's quarantine lab in Berkeley in order to ensure the continued breeding of the (wasps),'' Fiksdal wrote. ``Trial releases of the parasitic wasp could begin as early as spring.'' Authorities said the wasps do not pose a danger to humans. ``Each are the size of a grain of pepper, the wasps are so small it's hard to believe they could save gigantic trees,'' said Kathleen Scalise, a spokeswoman at UC Berkeley. ``They skitter skit·ter v. skit·tered, skit·ter·ing, skit·ters v.intr. 1. To move rapidly along a surface, usually with frequent light contacts or changes of direction; skip or glide quickly: around their cages at UC Berkeley's insect quarantine facility like minuscule ants.'' The wasps don't bite people and are harmless, Donley said. ``They prey on other insects,'' he said. ``They look nothing like the normal wasps that you and I see.'' People in Los Angeles County have been pressing Dahlsten to introduce the wasps here to save the trees. Dahlsten is credited with saving the state's foliage industry in 1991-1993. At that time, he also used predatory insects to save a species of eucalyptus used in the flower trade. It would have cost California's eucalyptus growers millions of dollars to control the problem, Scalise said. Fiksdal wrote the letter to the county supervisors to inform them that funding of the wasp project continues to be a problem. Dahlsten has received commitments from five Los Angeles agencies of $10,000 each to help defray de·fray tr.v. de·frayed, de·fray·ing, de·frays To undertake the payment of (costs or expenses); pay. [French défrayer, from Old French desfrayer : des-, the anticipated $75,000 program budget, leaving the project short $25,000, Fiksdal said. The problem is an urgent one. Under attack from the psyllids, trees lose their leaves and produce a sticky honeydew that dirties cars, buildings and sidewalks. ``The threat is pretty serious,'' Donley said. ``The psyllids cause extensive damage in eucalyptus trees throughout the county.'' At this time, the trees are not dying. ``Just because a tree loses it leaves does not mean it's going to die,'' Donley said. ``It does put it in an unhealthy condition. There will be regrowth Re`growth´ n. 1. The act of regrowing; a second or new growth. The regrowth of limbs which had been cut off. - A. B. Buckley. and the tree will survive. But if this were to happen year after year, you'd see the mortality of the trees.'' |
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