WEBVTT

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(soothing music)

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- The weed that we're actually
surrounded by right now,

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called alligator weed, is
native to South America.

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In the 1900s it was
introduced to the continental

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United States and it
caused a lot of problems.

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My job revolves around managing

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the alligator weed flea beetle program.

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The flea beetle itself is so interesting

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because they do so so much
for alligator weed control.

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This biocontrol agent has
changed the way we look at

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aquatic plant management
of alligator weed.

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The definition of biological control is

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the use of one species to control another.

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These biological control agents have to

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be super specialized for
what they're made to do.

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The alligator weed flea
beetles, specifically,

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um, only feeds on alligator weed

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so there's no non-target damage.

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It won't hurt any other plants

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or feed on anything, it
will actually die before

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it feeds on anything other
than it's target plant.

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- It's important for a lot of reasons,

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but for one, biocontrol
is important because

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it's a considerable upfront investment

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and the early years it takes a lot of work

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to develop a biocontrol agent.

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But once it's released it's essentially

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a self-propagating management tool

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that no longer requires any effort

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or requires little effort to continue

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it on for many years.

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So the benefit of that original work

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just continues indefinitely.

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Here at ERDC we study many facets

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of alligator weed biocontrol.

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But one in particular with the flea beetle

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that we're interested in
is how seasonal variation

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and plant quality and temperature

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during summer months, winter months,

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how that effects control of
alligator weed in the US.

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The other aspect that we're
studying at the moment

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is how genetic variation
within alligator weed

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effects control by the flea beetles.

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- The amount of beetles
that we can collect

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in a day really depends
on climate, however,

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we can range from with four or five boats

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out with biologists on
the front of the boat

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we can typically collect
between, I don't know,

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maybe 10 thousand at a low for a day

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and up to 50 thousand
for a high for a day.

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So it really ranges depending

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on how well they're swarming.

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- Now that the beetle
is already established

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in Florida we actually
don't do any more releases

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into Florida, specifically
the core doesn't.

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They're already, they're doing their thing

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out there right now.

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But the agencies that
we send the beetles to,

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we just, you know, send the beetles

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in styrofoam cups and make sure there's

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no non-target capture in
there so it's just beetles

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and then non-productive
pieces of alligator weed.

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We ship them to states,
state and federal agencies

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that require management of their plants.

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And they take the cups that we've sent,

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place them out on a, um acre mat or so

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of alligator weed and wait about

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a half hour 'til they crawl out.

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- The flea beetle is the
classic success story

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for aquatic weed biocontrol.

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It was the first agent
introduced in the US

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in the late 60's and it's still the most

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effective agent that we
have for any aquatic weed,

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but only in the southern
areas where it stays warm.

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Which is why we're
interested in figuring out

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how to use it more effectively
in the northern areas.

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(boat engine)

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- Alligator weed has the propensity

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to reduce navigation capabilities.

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It has, it creates the problem of reducing

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storage capacity for
flood waters in the lake.

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And it out competes the
native species that are there.

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Currently, when we get
beetles we get 250 beetles

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per cup and that one
cup will cover one acre.

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(mumbles)

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- We have a really valuable resource here,

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we've got collections
of alligator weed here

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from all over the US and, essentially,

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what we have represented around me

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is the entire genetic
diversity of alligator weed

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that's present in the US
we have growing right here.

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And what that let's us do is,

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it lets us address questions about how

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the flea beetles might work.

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how they might control alligator weed

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given their introduction
into different parts

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of the country.

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Working at ERDC and our
support of districts,

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you know a lot of times we may work

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for a state agency but actually getting

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to support districts and seeing

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the results is really nice.

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This in particular is again,
kind of a unique project

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in that we've got two
districts working together

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and then us sort of
facilitating some of that.

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So you have the
Jacksonville district that's

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providing the collections of the insects

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and then sending them to
the Little Rock district

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and then we're kind of here to help answer

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any questions that they might have about

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how to use the insects more effectively.

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Yeah, so its a pretty cool
collaboration that way.

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(soothing music)