NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- Scientists with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences released insects known as Pseudophilothrips ichini, or thrips, into Pasco Palms Preserve Friday.
- Thrips are native to Brazil and eat only Brazilian pepper tree
- Brazilian pepper tree covers 700,000 acres of the state
- The group in Pasco Palms Preserve is the second released in Tampa Bay
- More Pasco County headlines
"They are a plant-feeding insect. They are very host-specific, which means they only eat Brazilian pepper tree," said Kristen Bowers, a UF/IFAS PhD student in the department of entomology and nematology.
According to UF/IFAS, Brazilian pepper tree is among the most abundant invasive species in the Everglades and covers 700,000 acres of the state. The fast-growing plant takes over habitats of native plants and wildlife. In the past, chemicals and machinery have been used to try to slow the spread. For years, researchers have been looking for a biological control.
"You can imagine this is not a two or three year process. This is eight, ten -- we've been researching Brazilian pepper insects since the late 1980s," said Carey Minteer, an assistant professor of entomology with UF/IFAS.
Minteer was part of a national coalition of scientists who worked to determine which insect could be the right fit. According to UF/IFAS, researchers had to prove thrips would eat only Brazilian pepper tree and wouldn't pose a threat to the native Florida environment before they could get approval for the release from USDA-APHIS. Testing began in Broward, St. Lucie, and Collier Counties last year. The 850 thrips in Pasco Palms Preserve are the second to be released in Tampa Bay, behind another group at MacDill Air Force Base. Researchers said it's hard to say what the extent of the thrips' impact could be or how quickly results will be seen.
"In our small plants in the lab, they can kill a plant in a few weeks," said Bowers. "But on a big plant like this, these are our first. The last six months of data is all we have."
"We should be patient. This is not something that we're going to throw insects out here and three days or three months from now we're going to see a bunch of dead Brazilian pepper," said Minteer. "Brazilian pepper will always be a part of our landscape. It's going to reduce the amount of Brazilian pepper to a more tolerable level."
Minteer said biological controls are also typically more cost effective than other methods. She said state agencies have spent $2.5 million on trying to curb the plant.
"That does not include landowners, this does not include municipalities. This is just state agencies," Minteer said. "It can be quite a lot of money. I've talked to cattle ranchers that have spent half a million dollars a year just on their ranch."
According to Minteer, some bio control programs see $100 of benefit compared to $1 of cost.
Researchers said they planned to study the progress of the Pasco thrips to get a better idea of their impact.