StevieB

Has recently uploaded 8 photos to the album titled Scout Moor Wind Farm
Harlequin ladybirds, which came to over-winter in our house. Unfortunately these are not good news, as they are so invasive that they threaten the 46 native species of ladybird in Britain.

By the way, I got given a GPS attachment for my camera, and 23 picks up the coordinates automatically from the EXIF data - very clever!



2 comments so far...

Gergana Vasileva plus November 29, 2008, 03:35 PM
It's always pity and dangerous when an alien invader species came and start to threat the native species (and some other insect species as well).
Thanks a lot for sharing these images, Stevie. Here I found some more info on this invasion. It's very serious problem, indeed. One of the problems of the global climate change as some specialists say.

Hm, maybe we have to find a specific harlequin parasite ... to solve the problem. :)

StevieB December 01, 2008, 09:52 AM
The problem with introducing a parasite is that you maybe can't predict how specific it will stay - most of the efforts at biological controls seem to have had unforeseen and usually deleterious other effects. After all, the harlequin itself was encouraged in the US precisely because it was so successful at depleting unwanted insects, but unfortunately was very good at depleting wanted ones as well!

This is what makes me so wary of biological controls, and GM technology. Both assume a level of knowledge of ecology and predictability of effect that we simply don't have.

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