Everglades trees hit by fungus-carrying beetle

Monday, May 26, 2014

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A plant disease blazing through South Florida is killing off swamp bay trees, an important part of the architecture of the Everglades that provide food for a vast range of wildlife and traditional medicine for an American Indian tribe.

Laurel wilt disease, a fungus carried by a beetle the size of a grain of rice, has been detected across more than 500 square miles of the Everglades, according to a forthcoming paper by state and federal scientists. The beetle, thought to have arrived from Asia in the Port of Savannah in packing crates, has hopscotched down the southeast coast, infecting avocado trees in the commercial groves of southern Miami-Dade County.

Since first being detected east of Everglades National Park in 2011, the disease has spread across about one-sixth of the Everglades. Many canals through the southern Everglades are lined with dead swamp bay trees, said Tony Pernas, exotic plant management specialist with the National Park Service.

The trees produce an abundance of blue and black berries, staples in the diets of wild turkeys, black bears, squirrels and other animals that inhabit the tree islands.

The leaves serve as food for two butterflies, the spicebush swallowtail and the palamedes swallowtail. They are also a source of traditional medicine for the Seminole tribe.

Florida received $5.4 million in the latest federal farm bill to fight laurel wilt, among other diseases, in the avocado groves. The state has formed a working group, set out beetle traps to monitor the infestation, and collaborated with the industry and University of Florida to study the disease.

A Section on 05/26/2014