Hydrophyte Volume 27 Issue 2 - April 2023

The Hydrophyte

Volume 27 Issue 2

Highlights

New Mosquito Species Reported in Florida

Invasive Apple Snails and Their Threat to Florida’s Wetlands

Zika Free Gardens

Prescription for Fires

Well, here we are in the onset of Hurricane season just around the corner with hurricane preparedness week April 30th through May 6th. As we prepare the waterways to support any upcoming heavy rain events, we are already trying to play catchup. Severe weather has been impacting all of Florida and looks to be an above average hurricane season as well.

Those algae blooms we had early on have been either knocked down with the rains or have moved out with the discharge of those rains. Never fear, the start of our peek growing season is almost here.

Until our next meeting lets be safe out there. See you soon!

James Boggs - President South

Society

Board Members - 2023

Officers 2023

James Boggs, President (813) 217-9486 boggsj@helenaagri.com

Dail Laughinghouse, Ph.D., Vice President (954) 577-6382 hlaughinghouse@ufl.edu

Colleen Sullivan, Secretary/Treasurer (954) 382-9766 csullivan@allstatemanagement.com

Andy Fuhrman, Immediate Past President (954) 382-9766 afuhrman@allstatemanagement.com

Board Members 2023

Keith Andreu (239) 694-2174 andreu@lchcd.org

Rose Bechard-Butman (954) 519-0317 rbechardbutman@broward.org

Norma Cassinari (334) 741-9393 ngcassinari@alligare.com

Lyn Gettys, Ph.D. (954) 577-6331 lgettys@ufl.edu

Wykle Greene (813) 416-7653 wykle.greene@syngenta.com

Wendi Nance (386) 409-1175 wendin@sepro.com

Dharmen Setaram (407) 670-4094 dharmen.setaram@heritagepg.com

Steven Weinsier (954) 382-9766 sweinsier@allstatemanagement.com

Fundsfromthescholarshipareusedto help defray costsforstudentstakingclasses related to thestudyof aquaticenvironmentalsciences or related areas.The scholarshipisopento anyone, and allareencouraged toapply. Applications will beacceptedthroughoutthe yearand the scholarship awarded whenasuitable candidate is found.MoneyraisedbytheSocietyduring the year partiallygoestofundthisscholarship,the intentofwhichistopromotethestudyofaquatics. For an application, please go to www.sfapms.org.

The Francis E. “Chil” Rossbach Scholarship Fund

Florida Aquatic Plant Management

Cover Photo: Allstate Resource Management

UF/IFAS study: New mosquito species reported in Florida

By: Lourdes Mederos | UF/IFAS

Another new mosquito species has made its way across the tropics into Florida, making a permanent home in at least three counties. Scientists are concerned because of the rate of new mosquitoes arriving in Florida and the potential for them to transmit mosquito-borne diseases. A mosquito known only by its scientific name, Culex lactator, is the latest to establish in the Sunshine State, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology by faculty at the UF/IFAS Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (UF/IFAS FMEL).

This species was first discovered in Miami-Dade County in 2018 by UF/IFAS faculty while they hunted for other nonnative mosquitoes. Since then, thriving populations have been recorded in Miami-Dade, Collier and Lee counties. Scientists are concerned there hasn’t been enough research on the species and their potential disease risk.

“There are about 90 mosquito species living in Florida, and that list is growing as new mosquito species are introduced to the state from elsewhere in the world,” said Lawrence Reeves, lead author of the study and an assistant professor and mosquito biologist at the UF/IFAS research center in Vero Beach.

Mosquitoes are among the most studied insects because they can transmit diseases. However, there are large gaps of knowledge, said Reeves.

“That’s particularly true for species from the tropical forests, where mosquitoes are diverse and understudied,” he said. “Introductions of new mosquito species like this are concerning because many of our greatest mosquito-related challenges are the result of nonnative mosquitoes, and in a case like this, it’s difficult to anticipate what to expect when we know so little about a mosquito species.”

Globally, there are more than 3,600 types of mosquitoes. When a new mosquito is found in Florida, it could be any of these species. Reeves and his team used DNA analysis and other tools to not only discover they had found a new mosquito species, but to identify it as Culex lactator.

Culex lactator is found in Central America and northern South America and is a member of the Culex group of mosquitoes. This group includes important species that transmit the West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis viruses, but it is unclear whether Culex lactator will contribute to the transmission of these viruses in Florida.

Every year, Florida faces challenges from mosquito-transmitted diseases like West Nile virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, dengue virus, chikungunya virus and others, explained Reeves.

“It’s too early to know whether Culex lactator will exacerbate these challenges, but the implications are often difficult to predict because not all mosquito species are equally capable of transmitting a particular virus or other pathogen,” said Reeves.

Each mosquito-borne virus is transmitted by only certain mosquito species, said Reeves.

“We need to be vigilant for introductions of new mosquito species because each introduction comes with the possibility that the introduced species will facilitate the transmission of a mosquito-transmitted disease,” he said.

The initial specimens of Culex lactator were collected in 2018 from rural sites in southern Miami-Dade County, south of Florida City, followed by additional adult and immature specimens collected through 2022 in the same locations. Each set of mosquitoes were collected from traps set by associate professor Nathan Burkett-Cadena, doctoral student Kristin Sloyer and Reeves while looking for other recently introduced mosquitoes.

In 2022, scientists with the Collier Mosquito Control District and Lee County Mosquito Control District found Culex lactator in their counties, indicating that Culex lactator has likely spread from its initial point of introduction.

Currently, Culex lactator is known to live in Collier County – south and east of Naples – Lee County, west of Fort Myers, and in the Homestead area of Miami-Dade County, though it may have also spread elsewhere in the state, said Reeves.

“Culex lactator is physically similar to mosquito species already known from Florida. It looks like other more common mosquito species,” said Reeves. “Because of that similarity, the presence of Culex lactator in an area can be easy to miss.”

Reeves and his team stress it’s important to monitor for Culex lactator as it is likely to spread within the state into areas that are environmentally suitable.

Florida’s proximity to the tropics and climate conditions make it ideal for nonnative mosquito species. Scientists are concerned about the rate and frequency of new species establishing in Florida. As many as 17 nonnative mosquito species are established in the state. Researchers stress that the detections of nonnative mosquito species are increasingly frequent, with 11 of 17 nonnative species first reported in the past two decades, and six of these 17 detected in only the past five years, said Reeves.

The mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, and Culex quinquefasciatus – among the most important disease vectors in the United States – like Culex lactator, are nonnative species, introduced from the tropics.

“Climate change may improve the chances of tropical mosquito species becoming established once they make it to Florida if the state becomes warmer,” adds Reeves. “Increasing storm frequency and intensity could also blow in more mosquitoes and other species from the Caribbean, Central America and elsewhere.”

ABOUT UF/IFAS

The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.

Invasive apple snails in your backyard, waterways? UF/IFAS study dives into their threat to Florida’s wetlands

By: Lourdes Mederos | UF/IFAS

• A new study by researchers at the University of Florida provides a first look at the ecological impacts of the invasive apple snails on some of Florida’s most vulnerable habitats and environments.

• Nonnative apple snails came to Florida in the 1980s as a popular aquarium trend but have since been released into the wild by hobbyists and become a rising threat to wetlands in the Sunshine State.

• The available research on the giant freshwater apple snail species tells us they originated in South America and are known to rapidly alter the ecological makeup of wetlands when introduced to nonnative areas in other parts of the world.

Florida is home to roughly 20% of all wetlands in the United States. In the last decade, apple snails have received attention as a potential threat to Florida’s wetlands.

In a newly published study, University of Florida researchers at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) provide the first look at the potential environmental impacts of one of three invasive apple snail species on Florida’s wetlands. The paper’s findings show how the invasion of Pomacea maculata – commonly called the island apple snail or giant apple snail – and land management combine to affect multiple ecosystem functions and services in Florida’s wetlands.

Limpkins eat almost exclusively apple snails (genus Pomacea), plus at least three other native freshwater snail species and five species of freshwater mussels.

Chase O’Neil, a biologist and lead author of the study works on constructing the apple snail experiment at the Archbold Biological Station’s Buck Island Ranch in Highlands County. Photo courtesy Jiangxiao Qiu.

Ingredients

Tropical Martini

Recipe from Fresh From Florida

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

4 ounces Florida vodka

4 ounces Florida passion fruit juice

2 ounces Florida mango juice

2 ounces Florida orange juice

1 ounce simple syrup

Preparation

Chill two martini glasses by filling with ice and water. In a cocktail shaker, add Florida vodka and fruit juices. Fill cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Place top on shaker and vigorously shake for at least 30 seconds. Discard ice and water out of each martini glass. Use an ice strainer to pour the tropical martini mixture evenly into each chilled martini glass. Garnish each martini with fresh Florida tropical fruit. Drink responsibly.

“We learned the apple snail invasion can greatly alter wetland ecosystem functions, particularly plant communities and nutrient cycling,” said Jiangxiao Qiu, assistant professor of landscape ecology at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center and School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences, and one of the study’s authors. “All these influences can translate to impacts on ecosystem services, which are the ecological benefits to humans, such as plant productivity, water quality, habitat maintenance and landscape aesthetic values of wetlands.”

The study’s authors hope the findings will give ecologists, natural resource managers, invasion science researchers and wetland scientists globally needed information to develop tailored actions that will mitigate apple snail impacts and conserve wetland ecosystems.

“Invasive apple snails exert significant destructive impacts on agricultural wetlands serving as rice farms in Southeast Asia and the southeastern United States,” Qiu said. “In Florida, while rice farms are not dominant agricultural land uses, the understudied invasive apple snails are abundant, and they can exert impacts on natural and semi-natural wetlands.”

Florida has one native type of apple snail and three nonnative species, all of which can easily overpopulate areas by outcompeting native species. They destroy aquatic vegetation, damage agriculture and adjacent communities, and can impact human health.

“For the research community, we showed how complex and varied apple snail impacts can be for critical ecosystem functions in different wetland types,” said Chase O’Neil, a biologist on the team and lead author of the study. “This work has broad-reaching implications for other ecosystems worldwide where apple snails have invaded natural and agricultural wetlands because it can help develop management strategies.”

In the study, researchers measured how wetlands changed as a result of an apple snail invasion.

“By using a holistic experimental approach and measuring a range of wetland responses — including vegetation, soil, water variables and functions — we were able to understand the overall impact of the species invasion on ecosystems,” said Qiu.

The team conducted a 14-week experiment known as a mesocosm. The experimental system, designed and built by Qiu, allowed the team to examine the natural environment under controlled conditions at the Archbold Biological Station’s

Buck Island Ranch. This working beef-cattle operation and research laboratory in Highlands County has an apple-snail invasion. The site contains over 600 wetlands interspersed within more than 10,300 acres of grasslands.

The mesocosm experiment site at the Archbold Biological Station’s Buck Island Ranch in Highlands County. Photo courtesy Chase O’Neil.

“This is a comprehensive study where we focused on several understudied areas in apple snail research simultaneously,” said O’Neil. “We looked at how invasive snails affect the ecosystem as a whole and how it functions, which was obviously harder to capture but in many ways is lacking from other work and is extremely valuable when looking at invasive species’ widespread impact.”

Researchers used white trash cans to hold soil, water, plants and apple snails collected from the site to create a wetland environment mimicking the field site’s conditions. The team divided experiments into two invasion treatments, one containing apple snails and another devoid of apple snails. They created two additional land management treatments, one characteristic of intensively managed wetlands and the other semi-natural wetlands.

They collected snail, soil, water and plant measurements. Scientists then compared how the presence of snails altered plant, soil and water responses compared to treatments without snails and how these differed in two types of wetlands.

“Overall, we found that invasive snails substantially decreased aboveground biomass and vegetation cover and exhibited preferential feeding on wetland plant species,” said Qiu. “Snails also increased water nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous and dissolved solids.”

Wetlands come in many forms, including fresh and saltwater marshes, wet prairies, cypress domes, steep heads, mangrove swamps and more. They provide a web of vital functions, including filtering impurities from

water, storing water to reduce flooding, storing carbon and providing ideal habitats for many plants and wildlife species, including birds, fish and reptiles.

Apple snails can grow up to six inches high and are found in freshwater lakes, rivers, streams, ponds and ditches throughout Florida. Where they’re in abundance, they have crossed into wetlands.

While they spend most of their lives under the water, they lay their eggs above the water line. It is no longer unusual for residents to come across bright pink egg clusters on vegetation and other hard surfaces like pilings, culverts, bridges and coastal seawalls. Each cluster contains between 500 and 700 eggs.

The species was first introduced in Florida through the aquarium trade in 1989 in Palm Beach County and has since become established throughout most of the state. There are apple snails from Miami-Dade County to as far northeast as Nassau County, and as far west as Okaloosa County.

The study is available in the March 2023 journal Science of the Total Environment.

ABOUT UF/IFAS

The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.

Zika Free Gardens

By: Rachel Taylor | Youth Environmental Alliance

During these warm weather months, providing fresh water for wildlife is a critical necessity to beat the heat. However, where there is sitting water, there are also mosquitoes. With Zika virus spreading across the US, keeping your water areas mosquito free this time of year, is crucial to your health and the health of others.

Have no fear!

You don't have to give up your bird baths, fountains or other water features with these helpful tips! Mosquitoes lay their eggs on still surfaces which can take up to 7 to 10 days to mature, from the larval stage to adult stage. To keep your wildlife's water mosquito free:

• Change your bird bath water every five days to disrupt a mosquito's growth cycle.

• For your fountains, add a small mosquito fish to all tiers so they can eat the larvae. Mosquito fish require no extra food, they can survive solely o bugs along the water's surface!

• Add a fish bubbler or solar water aerator to break the surface of any standing water feature.

• For water gardens, you can add mosquito fish as well as bladderwort (a carnivorous plant) and/or Chara (plant like algae which repels mosquitoes). Contact Youth Environmental Alliance for more information on these!

• For water gardens, you can add mosquito fish as well as bladderwort (a carnivorous plant) and/or Chara (plant like algae which repels mosquitoes). Contact Youth Environmental Alliance for more information on these!

• Do not trim the dead fronds o of your sabal palms (also known as cabbage palms). They are a preferred roost of the Northern Yellow bat - who love to eat mosquitoes.

• If you have a canal, lake or pond on your property, put up a purple martin box. These birds love mosquitoes!

• Rinse out your Bromeliad blooms at least once a week to flush out any mosquito larvae. Bromeliads serve as great hosts for mosquitoes!

• You can buy a natural larvicide such as Natular DT by Clarke or Mosquito Dunks.

• Do a sweep of your property to make sure there are no sites where standing water can accumulate, i.e., buckets, wheel barrels, old tires, or clogged gutters. Finally, if you see dragonflies, swallows, purple martins or bats flying around the perimeter, rest assure this is a good sign! They are mutualistic symbionts with humans and are champion mosquito eaters!

The Applicator’s Survival Kit

by Stephen Montgomery | Allstate Resource Management

Let’s face it – being an applicator is a multi-task job. It requires us to be part biologist, part salesperson, part public relations person, part chemist and part handyman/mechanic. With so many responsibilities, things don’t always run as smoothly as we’d like. There are a lot of delays we have no control over like weather, traffic or dealing with homeowners. All too often the most time-consuming and costly delays are things that could be easily rectified with a little preparation. Equipment failure is an eventuality that we all deal with sooner or later. There’s nothing more aggravating than having an operation brought to a screeching halt halfway through the day and realizing you don’t have the means to correct it.

Even though it’s impossible to prepare for every situation, a well-stocked “survival kit” can head off many of the headaches that can ruin a productive day. Think about equipment problems you and other colleagues have encountered in the past and try to build up an inventory of tools, spare parts and other items. The time spent stocking up is a lot better than the time spent in the middle of a lake in a boat

with a dead motor or a leaking spray system on a hot summer day two hours before quitting time.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but an applicator in a pinch may very well be the most ingenious thing on earth. Some items can be useful in ways other than their intended purpose. I’ve heard of some truly MacGyver-like fixes to get out of a jam over the years, such as pieces of PVC used as bridges to bypass a section of dry rotted hose and layers of rubber glove under a hose clamp to stop a leaking line. I’ve even used window spline wrapped in duct tape as a temporary gasket. None of these ideas are permanent fixes, of course, but they can work long enough to finish a job or may keep a small mess from becoming a big one. Forethought and preparation are key elements to overcoming the day-to-day operational headaches of our profession. The closest hardware store may as well be a million miles away once you’re out on the water and a problem occurs. A small investment of time in advance could pay big dividends down the road.

Each applicator’s kit is obviously tailored for his or her specific needs (and that’s particularly true about spare parts), but here are a few items that some of my fellow applicators carry.

Spare spark plugs

Spray tips and stabilizers

Extra O-rings

Lug wrench

Duct tape

Spare motor recoil

Hose clamps

Extra fuses

2x4 pieces

Spare winch cable

Wire ties

Rope

Spare prop

Extra cotter pins

Flashlight

Rubber gloves

Basic tool kit

Trailer hub and bearings

Winch crank

Tow strap

Extra hose

Lubricants (WD-40, grease)

Spare valves

PVC pipe scraps

Florida Jerk Chicken with Mango Salsa

Recipe from Fresh From Florida

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Ingredients

2 Florida mangoes, diced small

3-4 Florida chicken breasts

1 bell pepper, diced small

3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Preparation

1 lime, juiced

1 jar jerk marinade (your favorite)

Oil for cooking

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Combine chicken and jerk marinade in storage container or sealable plastic bag and marinate 4 to 8 hours. In a mixing bowl combine diced mango, bell pepper, cilantro, and lime juice. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove chicken from refrigerator and preheat a large sauté pan to medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon oil. Wipe o excess marinade and place chicken in pan. Sear on both sides, transfer to oven safe dish and finish cooking until an internal meat thermometer reads 165 degrees. Remove from oven, cover, and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. Top with the mango salsa or serve on the side.

Fresh tip: Florida mangoes are high in vitamin C and fiber, making them a great part of a balanced diet.

Prescription For a Fire

By: Rachel Taylor | Youth Environmental Alliance

Doctors' Orders....

Many know that wildfires are the result of a natural event like a drought, lightning strike or perhaps an accidental fire sparked from human ignition. A dry shrub or tree act as a conductor for the current of electricity flowing from lightning, creating a spark, then spreading rapidly. Happening in grasslands, forests and prairies, they are restorative for plant and animal species as they provide nutrient rich soil for the ecosystem.

For example, the serotinous cone needs fire to open and release their cotyledons after maturity. Leading to germination thus, new trees. However, wildfires create cause for human concern as they cannot be maintained, leading to severe damage in urban developments.

Not All Fire is Bad

Prescribed fire is the practice of setting intentional fires as land and resource management to inhibit growth of invasive species, control probability of wildfires and create fertile soil for new, native growth.

Prescribed fire changes an ecosystem using soil disturbance (stripping soil), releasing nutrients back into the soil and reducing under-story vegetation to increase photosynthesis by allowing light to reach the forest floor.

Since 1958, the Florida Everglades have used man-made prescribed fires among the upland, wetland and sawgrass territories to channel new growth and gain control over land management. The sand pine and scrub ecosystems rely heavily on prescribed fires to increase germination and protect keystone species here in Florida. Like many other national parks, fire ecology is vital to the native diversity and sustainability of the Everglades. Between Broward and Palm Beach County, over 22,000 acres have burned as a result of 26 maintained, prescribed fires, where no damage came to the public or any local developments.

Similar to the old slash and burn techniques, the Everglades Agricultural areas require controlled fire management for the sugar cane and rice fields that have over produced. The Florida Forest Service authorizes a total of 88,000 prescribed fires a year for farm owners and agencies combined. This means approximately 2 million acres are burned every year just in the state of Florida.

Positives

• Promotes flower, fruit production & germination

• Good for plants/trees that need fire

• Creates healthy and bountiful ecosystem for wildlife

• Reduces fuel in watersheds and forests preventing catastrophic wildfires

• Removes the old and unfertile growth

Negatives

• 2-12 months displacement of animal species requiring a thick ground cover

• Risk and danger of prescribed fire reaching other areas

• Smoke and soot a ect o site areas

• Aesthetics considered unattractive to locals & tourists

• Good for plants/trees that need fire

• Creates healthy and bountiful ecosystem for wildlife

• Reduces fuel in watersheds and forests preventing catastrophic wildfires

• Removes the old and unfertile growth

What would happen if prescribed fires were banned for long periods of time?

• Disruption of fire dependent, scrub ecosystem diversity

• Loss of Pines, increase in hardwoods

• Loss of keystone species like the Gopher

Tortoise

• Loss of native species like the Florida Scrub

Lizard

• Leading to reduced food sources for wildlife

• Degraded soil

• Decreased flower production

• Decreased fruit production

• Increased fuel loads leading to increased severity of wildfires

• Resulting in greater loss of Property, Habitats, Animals and even human lives

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

June 29, 2023

General Meeting

Lee County Hyacinth Control District O ce

September 28, 2023

General Meeting (Location: TBD)

November 16, 2023

Zoom Presentation TBD