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Photos
Leafy Spurge Biological Control
Information & Photo Resource Gallery
This separate gallery contains three different resource sections. The first is an extensive collection of images. It includes images of the biological control agents, leafy spurge, infestation sites, and research and distribution aids. The second resource is a collection of profiles for each of the biological control agents and for leafy spurge. These profiles, in pdf format, contain in-depth scientific, distribution and impact info.
Finally, several posters covering different aspects of leafy spurge management are also included.
Click here to
enter the Resource Gallery!
Results: Before & After Photos
Biologically based Integrated Pest Management
combines ecologically sound strategies with other tools to provide better
control and more flexibility than can be achieved using any single tool
alone. It is by far the best approach. But in the end, the most important
question is does it work. Absolutely! Just take a look at these before and
after pictures taken from different types of ecosystems. These are good
examples of the kind of results you can achieve.
Sentinel Butte, ND
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Before 1998 |
After 2000 |
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The combination of biological control and multi-species grazing at
this TEAM Leafy Spurge demonstration site in western North Dakota
has worked extremely well. In just three years, the
cattle-sheep-flea beetle combination reduced spurge densities by
31-50 percent, and native vegetation and desirable grasses are
reestablishing in areas formerly dominated by spurge. Based on
previous research, even greater reductions in spurge densities can
be expected in the fourth and fifth years (i.e., 2001 and 2002) of
the demonstration. In addition, the performance of both cattle and
sheep have been enhanced. The demonstration shows the economic and
environmental advantages offered by combining the two biologically
based IPM strategies.
Photo by Jack Dahl, NDSU-Hettinger Research Extension Center
Devil's Tower, WY
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Before 1998 |
After 2000 |
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These two sites, located five miles west of Devil’s Tower National
Monument, are part of a TEAM Leafy Spurge project to quantify flea
beetle establishment, population expansion and the resultant impact
on leafy spurge. Each site was inventoried -- i.e., extensive data
regarding soil type, moisture, topography, species composition, etc.
were collected -- prior to being seeded with 6,000 Aphthona
flea beetles (3,000 A. lacertosa and 3,000 A. nigriscutis)
in 1998. TLS data collected in the summer of 2000 indicates that 95
percent of the flea beetle releases in the area successfully
established populations (93 sites total), and that average leafy
spurge foliar cover declined from 47.5 to 11.9 percent (average from
93 sites). This upland site is relatively dry, at an approximate
elevation of 5,500 feet.
Photo by Amy Parker, University of Wyoming |
Fallon County, MT
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Before 1992 |
After 1995 |
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Cattle rancher Glenn Rugg used Tordon for 40 years before
experimenting with leafy spurge flea beetles in the early 1990s.
He's now a staunch advocate of biocontrol.
Photo by Neal Spencer, USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural
Research Laboratory |
Forget Me Not Lake, MN
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Before 1994 |
After 1997 |
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Decades of control efforts with herbicides proved fruitless on this
island, but Aphthona lacertosa took out a solid stand of
spurge in just three years. Note how quickly grasses returned. The
island, which features a grassland prairie ecosystem with relatively
high moisture, remains relatively spurge-free to date. Of interest:
This site was one of the first A. lacertosa sites in the U.S.
Photo by R.D. Richard, USDA-APHIS PPQ |
Waubay National Wildlife Refuge, SD
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Before 1999 |
After 2000 |
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Mixtures of Aphthona czwalinae/lacertosa were released
here in 1994-96; their impact on heavy leafy spurge infestations
between 1998-2000 were dramatic. Nearly 8 million flea beetles were
collected at the site in 1999 and 2000. Refuge officials say the
dramatic results have attracted a great deal of interest from local
farmers and ranchers, who are now working to implement biocontrol
programs on their own land.
Photo by Connie Mueller, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |
Bridger Mountains, MT
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Before 1993 |
After 1995 |
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Aphthona nigriscutis was released in 1994
and quickly eliminated spurge on a hillside interspersed with grass
and conifers. |
Ward County, ND
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Before 1998 |
After 1999 |
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Annual applications of Tordon and 2,4-D at these two sites, located
10 miles west of Minot, for 15 years did little to reduce spurge
densities. In 1998, the landowners released large numbers of flea
beetles (mixtures of approximately 75 percent A. lacertosa
and 25 percent A. nigriscutis); the results are obvious in
these before and after photographs.
Photo by Derrill Fick, Ward County Weed Control |
Valley City, ND
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Before 1993 |
After 1995 |
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This infestation, at the Katie Olsen National Wildlife Refuge near
Valley City (Barnes
County), was about as bad as spurge can get. But
the results of Aphthona czwalinae, and later, Aphthona
lacertosa, are obvious. Hundreds of millions of flea beetles
have been collected from this site and used to start new release
sites all across the northern Great Plains during the 1990s.
Amazingly enough, it all began with a release of just 80 insects in
1988.
Photo by Don Mundal, North Dakota State Department of Entomology
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