Beetles Appear to Be Controlling Purple Loosestrife in Michigan
Many Michigan roadside ditches and wetlands have become especially colorful during the past few weeks because the invasive plant purple loosestrife is blooming. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is problematic because it displaces native wetland plants and degrades wetland habitat for fish and wildlife. The colorful plant has become so prevalent because it has encountered few predators in most places and each plant can produce more than two million seeds per year.
However, this year the pesky plant is not so prevalent in some places as it has been, according to Michigan Sea Grant. After introducing leaf-feeding beetles Galerucella pusilla and G. calmariensis, resource managers and volunteers, including students and their teachers, have seen dramatic results in many infested wetlands.
Project leaders and participants are very optimistic about the long-term prospects for success with this approach. "Biological control of invasive weeds carries some risk, just as the other control methods," Klepinger says. "However, we've learned that there is no risk-free way to manage loosestrife. If we do nothing, we risk continued degradation of our wetlands. This approach is self-sustaining and is beginning to show real results." To become involved in the Purple Loosestrife Project, contact Mike Klepinger at 517-353-5508 or klep@msu.edu.
The Purple Loosestrife Project has trained 150 teacher volunteers to use the beetles, established a network of 24 Cooperative Biological Control centers, produced instructional and educational materials and maintain a web site. Read more about the Purple Loosestrife Project.
Michigan Sea Grant is a cooperative program of Michigan State University and the University of Michigan in Great Lakes and marine research, education and outreach. Michigan Sea Grant is funded by the National Sea Grant College Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
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