Re:Kudzu, the vine that never truly ate the South (2015)
by ntbloom on Sunday June 28, 2020 @07:33PM
(#23672884)
For those interested, check out the work of Doug Tallamy, an entemologist at the University of Maryland. His basic thesis is that insects drive ecological health and that invasive species that don't have thousands of years of coevolution with native insect populations provide ecological dead zones that are equivalant to concrete.
My opinion based on his work and others is that kudzu and others dramatically reduce biodiversity and upsetting ecological balances that took thousands of years to create. It's wonderful that pests show up to consume kudzu (like the bug referenced in the article), but it's not the same as a native species occupying the same niche that provides forage, pollen, seeds, habitat, and other necessities that make native insect populations thrive, which in turn supports larger fauna like birds, mammals, etc.
http://www.bringingnaturehome.net
My opinion based on his work and others is that kudzu and others dramatically reduce biodiversity and upsetting ecological balances that took thousands of years to create. It's wonderful that pests show up to consume kudzu (like the bug referenced in the article), but it's not the same as a native species occupying the same niche that provides forage, pollen, seeds, habitat, and other necessities that make native insect populations thrive, which in turn supports larger fauna like birds, mammals, etc.