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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Aisia beetles

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  • From: Pat Meadows <pat AT meadows.pair.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Aisia beetles
  • Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 07:46:04 -0400

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 09:23:38 -0500, you wrote:

>I understand that these beetles have been introduced as a predator for the
>soybean aphid. Does the problem start from having too many soybeans grown
>as a monoculture?

I think more likely the problem is caused by the
introduction of a foreign species. This almost *always*
causes problems: rabbits became terrible pests in
Australia, for instance.

Another example would be starlings in the USA (introduced
long ago by some idiot who wished to import all the birds
mentioned by Shakespeare).

When a foreign species is introduced, their predators
generally don't exist in the new area and things get out of
kilter, unbalanced.

Monoculture of soybeans (if it exists) probably wouldn't
help, though.

Pat




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