Weed control disappointment reported in ScienceDaily 5 November 2010 and Rangeland Ecology & Management 63(5):553-563. 2010 doi: 10.2111/REM-D-09-00075.1. Ecologists from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forest and Grassland Research Laboratory have successfully reduced infestations of a weed named leafy spurge in the rangelands of Montana by introducing flea beetles, which eat the weeds. In 1998 the biologists introduced about 6,000 flea beetles onto 32 plots of leafy spurge, mainly on privately owned cattle grazing land. By 2006 the beetles had reduced the weed infestations by 80 to 90 percent in these and were dispersing to other plots of land and reducing the weed in these. In spite of the success of this biological control method ecologists were disappointed because the weed was not being replaced with native vegetation, but with other non-native plants
Editorial Comment: If conservationists were true to their evolutionary beliefs they would not be worried about weeds or “non-native” plants. Evolution is about the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. In this case the leafy spurge was the fittest until the flea beetle came along, and after that the non-native vegetation was the fittest. When conservationists take on weed control they are acting more like creationists than evolutionists.
Genesis tells us that man was given dominion over the earth. Therefore, we have the right to decide what plants we want to grow or not to grow in certain places. We also have the responsibility to study the environment and make wise choices about what we want to grow where. Genesis 3 also tells us weeds are the result of God cursing the ground in judgement on man’s sin. God’s judgement did not take away man’s dominion, it just made it more difficult, and our sinful nature means we don’t do it very well. (Ref. botany, Euphorbia, insects)
Evidence News 24 November 2010