May | June 2010 INDUSTRY NEWS
safeguard UGA center to use
by Erin Griffin University of Georiga
For decades, non-native invasive species have caused billions of dollars in damage in the United States alone. Many are well known, such as the Asian longhorned beetle or kudzu. Others are less famous. A University of Georgia center will create an online video resource to train people to learn more about the invaders and what can be done to stop them.
UGA Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health recently received a $328,714 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. With the grant, a team from the center will create BugwoodVideo, a Web-based sys- tem to pull together new and existing high-definition videos. It will be linked to the center’s Bugwood im- age database and other resources. All content will be free for educational use as long as the work is cited.
“Videos will help to better illustrate complex proce- dures used in diagnosing, identifying and responding to new pest introductions,” said Joe LaForest, a pro-
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gram coordinator with the center. “These videos will be used by public and private sector, plant biosecu- rity personnel and first-detector educators to educate people on detection and response procedures to new introductions.”
Non-native, invasive species grow and reproduce rap- idly, harming agricultural crops and the environment. For example, the Hemlock Woolly Adegid, a small aphid-like insect, is threatening to wipe out eastern Hemlocks in north Georgia. Bengal dayflower, a fed- eral noxious weed, is becoming a major problem in cotton and peanuts fields in south Georgia.
The three-year grant is a joint effort between UGA, Colorado State University, University of Florida and Texas A&M. These organizations work together to help farmers, foresters, educators and professionals learn about and implement strategies to safeguard U.S. agriculture.
U.S. agriculture
to help
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