February 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 36
Lilioceris cheni, the Nepalese beetle that is
providing bio-control of air potato vines
in Miami-Dade County nature preserves,
munches contentedly on one of the
invasive plants.
Beetles to the Rescue
An innovative alliance between South Florida students, scientists and
a very hungry beetle is helping to eliminate invasive plants in parks
By Richard J. Dolesh
J
ust imagine if one day you discovered a new plant species in your local
park. You have never seen this climbing vine before, but suddenly it's everywhere and growing like wildfire. You call it the " air potato, " although
it is nothing like the well-mannered vegetable that knows its place in
the soil and stays there, producing plump nourishing tubers. Your air potato is
aggressive, invasive and destructive to natural ecosystems. If you live in South
Florida, this not a dream - you have them all over your nature preserves, and
they are expanding their range and damage.
Air potatoes (Dioscorea bulbifera) are
invasive plants that originally came
from Asia. They are twining vines that
latch on to trees, shrubs and virtually
anything that is upright. They grow at
an astonishing rate of 8 inches per day
and can grow up to 80 feet per year.
When they reach the top of taller trees,
they intertwine in tangled green mats,
blocking out sunlight and nourishment
34 Parks & Recreation
for everything below. Air potatoes form
a dense canopy that by its sheer weight
can bring down even healthy vigorous
trees. Worse, as they grow to maturity,
air potatoes drop hard little bio-bombs
called bulbils that spread the plant. In
some areas, air potato bulbils cover the
forest floor so thickly that you would
be likely to crush one with every step
you took! And every bulbil - from the
| F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 5 | W W W. N R PA . O R G
largest, which can grow to the size of
a grapefruit, to the smallest, which can
be tinier than a pencil eraser - is capable of propagating new vines when
it extends tubers into the soil.
So, who are you going to call if air
potatoes invade your parks? Well,
if you live in Miami-Dade County,
Florida, an area of the country that is
ground-zero in the nationwide fight
against invasive plants and animals,
you will be very glad to know that
your county park and recreation department has a Natural Areas Management unit composed of biologists,
ecologists and park managers dedicated to reducing and controlling the
spread of invasive plants and animals
in 80 natural area park preserves.
February 2015 - Parks & Recreation
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2015 - Parks & Recreation
February 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 1
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