Post by rsivertsen on Mar 30, 2007 22:27:13 GMT
Barry, I've known you for quite a long time, since the beginnings of CPN, and respect your views, but we just disagree on this, and as with many professionals, who also happen to be friends, there are times that we need to agree to disagree on some issues, and still maintain our mutual respect. I'm well aware of the potential, and share the concern. But every house plant that is a non-native is also a threat of becoming an "escapee" as they're known in the trade, and the Florida swamps are riddled with such plants. I’m sure the record has no shortage of these things.
But then, West Nile is also non-indigenous, but it’s here! And Aldrovanda is the only effective carnivorous plant that can prey upon even the largest of mosquito larvae, and also keep up with their population explosions, and survive in the conditions that are fatal to fish and other predators of mosquito larvae. There are several other dangerous diseases that spread by mosquitoes.
What are the options here? Spray the environment with potentially dangerous chemicals, or see if a natural predator might provide a simple and natural solution?
I did mention that I took the time and effort, several years in scoping out suitable sites where they were far away from protected wetlands, and within private property, obtaining permission from the owners before I introduced these plants into the site. Still, they are not easy and after all these attempts in well over twenty such sites, over ten years, only one site still has a viable population that returns each year. It’s a little funny knowing that this site was the LAST place I ever expected to see them alive again, since it had a history of algae blooms, and dries up completely each year. This site is small enough that it can be destroyed quite easily, and it dries out completely at least once a year for several weeks; each time I give the Aldrovanda it's Last Rites, but a few manage to survive and recover. Ducks and Canadian geese also decimate the population as they graze heavily on the turions before they lose buoyancy and just after they re-emerge from their dormancy, and float to the surface.
Most plants can be ripped out of its natural habitat, and be grown in artificial containers, and pots; but Aldrovanda are symbiotic creatures that require the presence of several other organisms in a community in a complex structure where several processes are going on simultaneously. Attempting to circumvent these complex processes have proven to my experience as an exercise in futility, and seems a little simple-minded knowing the complex relationship it has with the other creatures in its habitat.
Peace, brother.
But then, West Nile is also non-indigenous, but it’s here! And Aldrovanda is the only effective carnivorous plant that can prey upon even the largest of mosquito larvae, and also keep up with their population explosions, and survive in the conditions that are fatal to fish and other predators of mosquito larvae. There are several other dangerous diseases that spread by mosquitoes.
What are the options here? Spray the environment with potentially dangerous chemicals, or see if a natural predator might provide a simple and natural solution?
I did mention that I took the time and effort, several years in scoping out suitable sites where they were far away from protected wetlands, and within private property, obtaining permission from the owners before I introduced these plants into the site. Still, they are not easy and after all these attempts in well over twenty such sites, over ten years, only one site still has a viable population that returns each year. It’s a little funny knowing that this site was the LAST place I ever expected to see them alive again, since it had a history of algae blooms, and dries up completely each year. This site is small enough that it can be destroyed quite easily, and it dries out completely at least once a year for several weeks; each time I give the Aldrovanda it's Last Rites, but a few manage to survive and recover. Ducks and Canadian geese also decimate the population as they graze heavily on the turions before they lose buoyancy and just after they re-emerge from their dormancy, and float to the surface.
Most plants can be ripped out of its natural habitat, and be grown in artificial containers, and pots; but Aldrovanda are symbiotic creatures that require the presence of several other organisms in a community in a complex structure where several processes are going on simultaneously. Attempting to circumvent these complex processes have proven to my experience as an exercise in futility, and seems a little simple-minded knowing the complex relationship it has with the other creatures in its habitat.
Peace, brother.