Lloyd Loope — Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC)

In the late 1990s, a Maui-based ecologist and scientist working with the US Geological Survey (USGS) envisioned a simple, straightforward way for the public to report invasive pests. The late Lloyd Loope was acutely aware of how important it was to have widespread community participation in detecting invasive species. He sought funding to develop an online system to help the public easily report invasive species. The benefit would be two-fold: promoting awareness of harmful plants and animals pests in Hawaiʻi, and stopping high priority pests from becoming established.

Loope found agreement and funding. He and other resource managers began making plans for what would become the 643PEST.org online reporting system. This online system would complement a statewide phone hotline, 643-PEST (7378), implemented by the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture.

Elizabeth Speith was the first report facilitator, hired in 2005, and still fields online submissions. With statewide input and support, she’s helped develop the program from its earliest stages to the recognized and effective program it is today. “You can contact the 643PEST system and know your report will go to specialists to be reviewed,” says Speith.

How does it work? Any report of an unknown or concerning plant or animal goes to report facilitators to first identify and determine if it’s actionable (incipient or too widespread) and if it needs an immediate response, e.g., a snake or skunk. “Every island is unique,” explains Speith, “both in the species introduced and the roles and organizations available to respond.”

The mongoose is an opportunistic predator — The mongoose is widespread on all islands in Hawai’i except for Lānaʻi and Kauaʻi. Community reports on Lānaʻi and Kauaʻi trigger crews out searching for the invasive predator.

A plant or animal new or in low numbers on one island may be too widespread to stop on another one. Case in point: the mongoose, an introduced predator that dines on the eggs and hatchlings of ground-nesting seabirds, is widespread on all islands save for Lānaʻi and Kauaʻi. A report of mongoose on those islands would launch crews to look for and remove the pest; but a sighting on Maui, where the stubby-legged carnivore is commonplace, would generate a more limited response: identification and information. Regardless of the eventual outcome, reporters will learn the identity, information about the impacts, and resources on how to control the pest.

If the report requires on-the-ground action, Speith and other assessors will contact the appropriate response agency. The kuleana (responsibility) may depend on the pest’s location. Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death (ROD) is decimating ʻōhiʻa trees on Hawaiʻi Island but is not currently present on Maui. If an alert Maui resident reported a suspected ROD-affected tree in their backyard, it would be passed on to the Maui Invasive Species Committee who would collect a sample for analysis and testing but a suspect tree along a State trail would go to Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture would respond to any instances of shipping ʻōhiʻa material – logs, firewood, or foliage– from another island (in violation of a quarantine). Rather than asking people to navigate the maze of agencies, concerned citizen scientists have the support of the 643PEST system to shepherd reports to the right responder.

The program has had an impact: in 2020 alone, the 643PEST online system logged nearly 550 reports. Though many reports are of common species, 16% of all reports made to 643PEST.org since 2005 have been for high-priority pests actively managed. Sometimes, a report has stopped a pest in its tracks. In 2013, a Kauaʻi resident reported a strange lizard to the 643PEST system, leading to the first capture and subsequent eradication of the invasive Jackson’s chameleon from the Island.

Another example of a pest widespread on some islands yet not present on others is the Jackson’s chameleon. Thanks to an alert Kaua’i resident, Jackson’s chameleons were removed on Kaua’i before they could threaten native snails found there. Photo courtesy of 643PEST.org

Today, the 643PEST.org report system is under DLNR as a project of the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council. Experts from the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Bishop Museum, University of Hawaiʻi, and Invasive Species Committees help identify and review reports. The free 643PEST app makes it even easier to help protect Hawaiʻi from invasive species.

Look around your yard and neighborhood. If you see an unusual new pest, report it, and help stop the spread of invasive pests on Maui and elsewhere in the islands. Check out the 643-PEST.org website or contact your local Invasive Species Committee.

Lissa Strohecker is the public relations and education specialist for the Maui Invasive Species Committee. She holds a biological sciences degree from Montana State University. Kia’i Moku, “Guarding the Island,” is prepared by the Maui Invasive Species Committee to provide information on protecting the island from invasive plants and animals that can threaten the island’s environment, economy, and quality of life.

This article was originally published in the Maui News on February 13th as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

Read more Kiaʻi Moku articles

Last month I began to present my point of view as a conservation scientist relevant to current “controversy” over biocontrol of strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum), Hawaii’s most damaging invasive plant species. I touched upon the generally accepted theory that many highly invasive plant species, held in check by insects and pathogens in their home range, become unbeatable competitors in their introduced range where those insects and pathogens are lacking. Strawberry guava exemplifies the “enemy release” theory; it is attacked by virtually no insects or pathogens wherever it invades on many tropical islands of the world.

Though I’ve always supported the concept of biocontrol as a potential tool for Hawaii’s most widespread and most invasive plants, I recall a personal pessimism in the 1980s that biocontrol success might be unlikely in this case because guava is in the myrtle family (same as Hawaii’s ‘ōhi‘a) and commercially important common guava (Psidium guajava) is such a closely related sister species.

A strawberry guava tree in Curtiba, Brazil is heavily infested with the galls of the scale insect Tectococcus ovatus. This is the typical effect of the insect on the plant. It was a result of a naturally developing infestation of the insect in the plant’s native range. U.S. Forest Service photo

But state and federal natural resource agencies in Hawaii have managed to cobble together a remarkably stellar program to address the rampant invader. In 1991, the National Park Service and the University of Hawaii began to collaborate with the Federal University in Curitiba, Brazil, to identify and evaluate potential biocontrol agents. After 10 years of field observations and other testing working within the native ranges of both strawberry guava and common guava in Brazil researchers found 133 insect species in 12 orders and 80 families that fed on strawberry guava. Thirty-one of those species fed only on plants in the myrtle family, and five species fed only on strawberry guava and not at all on common guava. The collaborative program zeroed in on Tectococcus ovatus, a scale insect that feeds on the new growth, creating galls on the leaves of strawberry guava. This scale insect was the choice for more intensive work based on the relative severity of damage inflicted on P. cattleianum and the ease of handling it.

Tectococcus ovatus was brought to containment facilities in Hawaii and Florida, where strawberry guava is also invasive, for intensive experimental testing to ensure its safety as a biocontrol agent. Many related native and non-native plants were tested as potential host species. Strawberry guava is the only plant in Hawaii that this insect is able to feed on. Dr. Tracy Johnson of the U.S. Forest Service in Hilo has brought the program close to fruition over the past eight years.

The insect reduces the plant’s energy and nutrients available for growth and reproduction. Heavy infestation is expected to accelerate leaf drop and reduce fruit and seed production. Some fruit will be produced and the plants are not expected to die. If the scale insect thrives, it will level the playing field between the invasive strawberry guava and native forest species.

What other species in the ecosystem will be affected by the expected decline in strawberry guava fruit production? Feral pigs and a few species of non-native birds will lose a seasonal carbohydrate diet supplement during the September-December fruiting season. These same species are fully able to thrive in areas where there is no strawberry guava.

Hawaii is confronted by intractable invasive species problems, but by integrating prevention, early detection, rapid response, and biocontrol we can begin to address these problems. Biocontrol is an essential part of invasive plant management strategies in New Zealand, Australia, and the U.S. mainland. Florida has become a leader in biocontrol in the past decade. For example I recently learned that thanks to two insects introduced about 10 years ago as classical biocontrol agents, the notorious Melaleuca, or paper bark tree is no longer invasive in the Florida Everglades! My scientific opinion is that biodiversity conservation in Hawaii will not succeed without the enlightened use of biological control.

Lloyd Loope is a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey stationed at the Haleakala Field Station. He holds a doctorate in botany from Duke University and is an active Maui Invasive Species Committee member.

Originally published in the Maui News, October 12, 2008 as part of the Kia‘i Moku Column.
You can see all the articles in the Kia‘i Moku series http://www.hear.org/misc/mauinews/

643PEST simplifies reporting invasive species throughout Hawai’i

Biocontrol precision is weapon against invaders

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