Australian dung beetles will be intentionally released in NZ

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gzt

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#76783 6-Feb-2011 22:18

Australian dung beetles will be intentionally released in New Zealand.

Is this the biggest intentional exotic animal release since the Possum?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4623228/Aussie-dung-beetles-are-coming

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1102/S00046/farmers-recruit-the-dung-beetle.htm

http://www.ermanz.govt.nz/find/WebResults.aspx?search=erma200599&submit.x=34&submit.y=15

aussie dung beetle

tardtasticx

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#436067 6-Feb-2011 22:20

Makes sense.... Obv. the appropriate authorities would have thought about this very hard. Are they very big?

mattwnz

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#436069 6-Feb-2011 22:29

You'd hope so, but there are often side effects for any solution of this type. Look at all the other introduced species. They introduced gorse because their thought it would make good hedging, but it got out of control in NZs environment.

tardtasticx

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#436071 6-Feb-2011 22:34

Well if it aint broke, dont fix it, as the saying goes. Its just cow poo. We've dealt with it so far, sure another few hundred/thousand years will be fine.

rscole86

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#436076 6-Feb-2011 22:43

gzt: Australian dung beetles will be intentionally released in New Zealand.

Is this the biggest intentional exotic animal release since the Possum?

Not sure if it is the biggest? We have released the gorse spider mite, which may be bigger... although they are a smaller organism.

Have a look at, http://www.b3nz.org/bcanz/index.php , if you are interested. However, they are some omissions. Eg, http://www.nrc.govt.nz/Environment/Weed-and-pest-control/all-about-biological-control/Mexican-dung-beetle/

mattwnz

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#436079 6-Feb-2011 22:59

rscole86:
gzt: Australian dung beetles will be intentionally released in New Zealand.

Is this the biggest intentional exotic animal release since the Possum?

Not sure if it is the biggest? We have released the gorse spider mite, which may be bigger... although they are a smaller organism.

Have a look at, http://www.b3nz.org/bcanz/index.php , if you are interested. However, they are some omissions. Eg, http://www.nrc.govt.nz/Environment/Weed-and-pest-control/all-about-biological-control/Mexican-dung-beetle/

The mite hasn't made any difference in my area. Still heaps of gorse. The problem is when they have to introduce another solution to control the previous solution. It's a bit like western medicine, there are side effects to many medicines, and you sometimes need additional medicine solely to cope with the side effects.

mattRSK

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#436080 6-Feb-2011 23:08

Never a good idea!

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bazzer

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#436117 7-Feb-2011 08:36

It's like that old lady I read about. I think she swallowed a fly, I don't know why. Then she tried to swallow a spider to catch it, but then what? She needed to swallow a bird to catch the spider and so on. She ended up swallowing a horse and died!

P.S. As one of the articles said, the beetles should have been sent over when the sheep and cows came, they were introduced too, of course!

gehenna

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#436120 7-Feb-2011 08:51

I suspect if nature wanted dung beetles in NZ there'd be dung beetles in NZ.

Silly humans.

bazzer

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#436121 7-Feb-2011 08:56

gehenna: I suspect if nature wanted dung beetles in NZ there'd be dung beetles in NZ.

Silly humans.

Ditto with cows and sheep, I guess.

marmel

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#436122 7-Feb-2011 08:58

tardtasticx: Well if it aint broke, dont fix it, as the saying goes. Its just cow poo. We've dealt with it so far, sure another few hundred/thousand years will be fine.

Problem is there is a LOT more cow poo around now than there was even 5 years ago. The number of dairy conversions down here in the south is huge, at one time farmers would have to wait for more than a year to get a dairy shed built due to the demand.

Dairy faming in general is one of the key factors in the enviroment down this way due to the massive water requirements they have as well as what to do with all the effluent created.

On the other hand they also generate a lot of money for the Southland economy, we just need to balance the two. The dung beatle will hopefully help in some small way to manage that balance.

gzt

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#436160 7-Feb-2011 10:36

rscole86: Have a look at, http://www.b3nz.org/bcanz/index.php, if you are interested. However, they are some omissions. Eg, http://www.nrc.govt.nz/Environment/Weed-and-pest-control/all-about-biological-control/Mexican-dung-beetle/

http://www.b3nz.org/bcanz/index.php
http://www.nrc.govt.nz/Environment/Weed-and-pest-control/all-about-biological-control/Mexican-dung-beetle/

Fascinating. I had no idea there were so many recent intentional introductions. Reading the links above (and the ERMA report approving the introduction) I am surprised by how minimal the required and actual process is.

Seems the usual way is someone has the idea, then an industry working group (funded by the ministry of agriculture) submits a proposal to ERMA, ERMA does a paper based risk assessment, and approves or declines in whole or in part.

ERMA rejected one of the total 11 beetle types proposed for release, on the basis that one of them would compete with natives.

From there you release the species. There is no requirement for monitoring to determine if the expected benefits were delivered, and no requirement for monitoring for adverse effects or unexpected behaviour.