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Florida island takes up arms against iguana invasion by Patrick Moser December 8, 2007 MIAMI (AFP) - Florida's idyllic Gasparilla island has taken up arms against aggressive foreign intruders, but the Mexican spiny-tailed iguanas are putting up a tough fight, devouring landscaped gardens, munching on electrical cables and gobbling up turtle eggs. "It's an invasion and they're mean as hell," says local resident John Bourgoin. "They have big spikes on their tails and they even bite dogs. I've seen it done, dog's bitten on the muzzle." Outnumbered 10 to one by the iguanas, a growing number of the island's 1,200 permanent residents have decided to wage a full-on war against the pesky critters. Read the rest. 
It is estimated that more than 1.5 million acres of Florida's remaining natural areas have become infested with exotic plant species. Hydrilla, Florida's most widespread invasive exotic aquatic plant, covered 65,486 acres of public waterbodies in 1996. At least 45% of the invasive exotic plant species found in Florida were imported for ornamental or agricultural reasons, and 39% of the worst invasive plant species are still commercially available for sale and continue to spread. More
Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council's
Florida Island Town Overrun With Iguanas April 13, 2006 BOCA GRANDE, Fla. - Death and taxes may be life's only certainties, but for folks in this upscale island town, add iguanas. And another tax. In three decades, the resort community on Florida's Gulf Coast has been overrun by the black, spiny-tailed, nonnative lizards that demolish gardens, nest in attics and weaken beach dunes with burrows. Last month, Lee County commissioners agreed to create a special tax for Boca Grande to cover costs of studying the infestation on the barrier island of Gasparilla, where scientists estimate there are up to 12,000 iguanas on the loose, more than 10 for every year-round resident. The frustration here has led to frenzy. Bonnie McGee keeps a pellet gun by her door ready to take on the slithering enemy. "They eat your flowers and their feces is everywhere," she said, adding that she's killed dozens. "Some people toss them in the canal and the hermit crabs feed on them." Aaron Diaz, owner of Boca Grande's Barnichol hardware store, said he has sold 75 traps in the past three weeks alone.
"For some people, they've really taken over, climbing into attics, into vents
and even into their toilets," he said. Read
more
Florida's Newest Problem: Burmese Pythons April 12, 2006 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida's newest problem is roughly the circumference of a telephone pole. It has no toes. It snacks on rabbits. It's the Burmese python. And in South Florida, the problem is growing in number and in feet. "Last year, we caught 95 pythons," said Skip Snow, a biologist with Florida Everglades National Park. That's not counting the 13-footer that exploded after trying to eat an alligator, or two others that got loose and ate a Siamese cat and a turkey. To keep the problem from sliding further out of control, state Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Titusville, wants to add Burmese pythons to Florida's list of regulated reptiles. His bill (HB 1459) could force python buyers to complete state training, buy a license and face jail time if they let their snakes loose. The giant, unwanted snakes take other animals' homes and prey on fragile native species, Snow said. They're also the products of impulse shopping gone very wrong. "People buy them when they're small," he said. "I've seen them as cheap as 20 bucks in flea markets." The inch-long hatchlings start off cute. Then they hit puberty.
"By the end of the year, they're seven feet long," Snow said. "By the end of
two years, they're 10 feet long. And that's more snake than anyone can handle."
Read
more
Mango-Eating Asian Beetle Found in Florida March 10, 2006 MIAMI - A long-horned beetle that has decimated mango plantations in China was found for the first time in the United States at the Port of Miami aboard a freighter transporting cargo from Hong Kong, federal officials said Friday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture inspectors found a single live beetle March 1 in a shipment of granite counter tops from Hong Kong, said Jennifer Connors, an agency spokeswoman in Miami.
The beetle, Rhytidodera bowringii, has destroyed more than 100 mango
plantations on Hainan Island in southern China, she said. It burrows into a
mango tree's trunk and branches, causing limb breakage and eventually death.
Pinellas Counts On Beetles To Rock Invasive Punk Trees LARGO - A few months ago, they released flies whose larvae feed on the necks of fire ants until the heads fall off. On Thursday, Pinellas County Cooperative Extension Service workers unleashed about 200 melaleuca snout beetles at the Florida Botanical Gardens to do some more dirty work. Their destination: a clump of about two dozen melaleuca trees, more commonly known as punk trees. County officials hope the beetles, obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a University of Florida project, chomp their way through those trees before fanning out in Pinellas. "It's not going to be a fast thing, but it is a start,'' said Opal Schallmo of the extension service. "They feed on the new growth and stunt it back. Without new growth, the trees eventually decline and die, especially the new seedling trees that come up.'' People worried about the beetles attacking other trees can rest easy. "The best part is this particular weevil doesn't feed on anything except melaleuca,'' Schallmo said. "If those plants ever disappear, they won't go onto another plant.'' Punk trees have been causing harm in Florida, especially the Everglades, since they were brought from Australia in the late 19th century.
Reporter Rob Shaw can be reached at (813) 249-2545.
Florida's Invaders: Exotic Pests Kudzu - Is Your Garden a Danger to the Environment?
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