The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

"Pest" ControlLet us say that there are still some people who think that if chemicalsare not used their fruit trees and field crops will wither before their veryeyes. The fact of the matter is that by using these chemicals, people haveunwittingly brought about the conditions in which this unfounded fearmay become reality.Recently Japanese red pines have been suffering severe damage froman outbreak of pine bark weevils. Foresters are now using helicopters inan attempt to stop the damage by aerial spraying. I do not deny that thisis effective in the short run, but I know there must be another way.Weevil blights, according to the latest research, are not a directinfestation, but follow upon the action of mediating nematodes. Thenematodes breed within the trunk, block the transport of water andnutrients, and eventually cause the pine to wither and die. The ultimatecause, of course, is not yet clearly understood.Nematodes feed on a fungus within the tree's trunk. Why did thisfungus begin to spread so prolifically within the tree? Did the fungusbegin to multiply after the nematode had already appeared? Or did thenematode appear because the fungus was already present? It boils downto a question of which came first, the fungus or the nematode?Furthermore, there is another microbe about which very little isknown, which always accompanies the fungus, and a virus toxic to thefungus. Effect following effect in every direction, the only thing that canbe said with certainty is that the pine trees are withering in unusualnumbers.People cannot know what the true cause of the pine blight is, nor canthey know the ultimate consequences39