Quote Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg View Post
Prediction?Pain - coastal ecosystems are extremely fragile and they are constantly bombarded by outside influencers. Invasives can come down river to the coast, or come on ships from China. A mild winter can allow things to grow that are normally kept in check by cooler winter waters. We also have so many plants and aninmals that grow in a relatively compact zone that any imbalance or invasive can wipe things out quickly. A lot of the solutions - pesticides, etc - are expensive or are only effective when "blanketing" every single tree (or blade of marsh grass) multiple time with specific doses. It's crazy. Here in Coastal Georgia we have seen the entire Red Bay population wiped out by a beetle that came from China in the wood of pallets. Spread from Savannah to Jacksonville in less than 10 years. There was also a snail here that was impacted by an invasive, and the result was marsh grass dying off in large patches - acres and acres - at a time. Luckily, it was solved, and the marshes recovered.
Thanks for the info, Brunswick. So basically, we're all getting equally effed by invasive pests. Solid. I don't make it to coastal areas much -- and the last blurb I remember stumbling across that dealt with something even vaguely similar was nearly four years ago (aside: David Haskell's stuff is really, really worth checking out if you're at all into biology, botany, or nature-writing) -- so it's good to get a a reminder that this sort of stuff is happening everywhere.