Foreign insect devouring La. coast

VENICE, La. – Louisiana’s coastline has been facing deadly threats such as rising seas, hurricanes, and oil spills for decades. Now, there’s a new threat that is literally eating its coastal wetlands and devouring the protective roseau cane perennial grass, and turning marsh lands into mud flats. Scientists determined in April 2017 that the culprit is a foreign pest identified as the Nipponaclerda biwakoensis (a scale) is largely to blame. The invaders hunger for the roseau cane grass, a hardy reed binding some of the state’s most delicate stretches of coastline. They couldn’t have come along at a worse time: Louisiana’s coast is disappearing at about 10 square miles per year. The roseau cane serves as a bulwark against the loss of land. The scale is consuming delta marshes, which protect shipping channels, fishing and shrimping grounds, and hundreds of oil wells and pipelines. The insect may reverse decades of coastal restoration projects, and undercut major elements of Louisiana’s 50-year plan to slow land loss, and limit damage from major storms. (Source: NY Times 02/24/18)