Abigail Garofalo: 00:07

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Environment podcast where we explore the environment we see everyday. I'm your host, Abigail Garofalo.

Erin Garrett: 00:16

And I'm your cohost, Erin Garrett.

Abigail Garofalo: 00:18

And today, we are here with Chris Evans, our Extension forestry and research specialist with University of Illinois Extension, here to chat about invasive species and climate change. Welcome, Chris.

Chris Evans: 00:30

Hi. Thank you. Yeah. I'm looking forward to this.

Abigail Garofalo: 00:32

Yeah. Old friend of the pod, been around for chatting with us. We love to have you on, so we're excited. And, this topic is also very familiar to the podcast. We actually did a a spotted lanternfly feature, just last year talking about, you know, spotted lanternfly coming to Illinois, and we had you on specifically to kind of also give that just general invasive species. So this is gonna be a refresher for long time listeners and maybe some new information for new listeners and with a climate change perspective. So we're excited to kind of hear what's going on with with that aspect of our environment when it comes to our changing climate.

Abigail Garofalo: 01:11

We wanna make sure we talk about some basic concepts, and everyone's kind of on the same page. And so let's let's just start with some basics. You know, what is an invasive species, Chris, and and how do they differ from, like, a native species or even just, like, a non generally non native species? There's a lot of terminology around this concept.

Chris Evans: 01:30

Oh, sure. Sure. So invasive species can be, you know, any taxa. We have invasive plants, invasive diseases, animals, you know, insects, everything. They are species that are not native to this ecosystem. Right? So they've they've originated from somewhere else. They've been introduced one way or the other. And then there's some level of negative consequence for the fact that they're on the landscape. And so that's really what makes them an invasive is that they alter the habitat, the ecosystem, something in a way that impacts our native species or impacts the functioning of our ecosystems. The fact that they do that is why we call them an invasive, really. And that really does differ from just normal exotic species. So those are species that are not native to the ecosystem, but they may be nonimpactful. Right? So they might, they might just be here and not really do anything, so those are not invasive.

Abigail Garofalo: 02:23

Yeah. The my favorite example of, like, a, like, a we call them nuisance. Right? Nuisance could be in any kind of thing, but dandelions, they're not really a a problem in natural areas. They're more of, like, an annoyance in lawns. We don't classify them scientifically as invasive.

Chris Evans: 02:40

Correct. Yeah.

Abigail Garofalo: 02:40

Yeah.

Chris Evans: 02:41

Yeah. Or, you know, we have some people use that term. They say, oh, well, a poison ivy is super invasive. Well, no. Because it's, you know, it is a natural part of our ecosystem. So when we're talking about invasives and when I mentioned it, I really like to focus in on that non native species that cause damage. Right?

Abigail Garofalo: 02:57

Yeah. Yeah. You definitely calling a native species invasive is, like, counter intuitive to the definition of an invasive species. That's right.

Chris Evans: 03:06

I agree.

Erin Garrett: 03:08

Yeah. And that's important too. Right? Because we wanna make sure that we focus on providing funding and resources and time and effort into the things that really need it, the invasives that are like the heavy hitters. Right? So being able to parse that out from, like, a I call them aggressive native, like, when it's a native species that's really aggressive, like trumpet creeper. Right? If you have it in your yard, if you don't keep that in in check, can be super aggressive or like poison ivy. I've dealt with poison ivy in my yard and it's not fun. I don't want it there, but call it aggressive. Right? Just to kind of make sure that we are reserving that that term for those specific species where we do need those extra resources and that extra, you know, push, is is important too.

Chris Evans: 03:53

Yeah. I mean, I agree. I think if you look at it ecological wise, the the alterations from invasive species are a lot more impactful, a lot more damaging than aggressive natives. Right? So I do think you're right. I think the priorities on these invasives just because of the level of of impact they have is so much higher than than species that are that are kind of naturally part of the ecosystem.

Erin Garrett: 04:17

Mhmm. So when we talk about those impacts, what are some of those ecological impacts that we can see on the landscape that comes from invasive species?

Chris Evans: 04:28

Well, some of them are, you know, changes in species diversity. So a lot of times with invasive species, and we're talking invasive plants specifically right now, we see they have the tendency to dominate an ecosystem and and they outcompete natives and so you lose that level of complex diversity that we see in our native ecosystems with lots of species and lots of different functional groups. And the system moves towards kinda being dominated by you know, 1 or 2 invasive species. And that has huge implications for wildlife habitat, you know, insect use, even functioning as well as just in terms of, you know, nutrient cycling and things like that. In terms of other invasives like invasive pests, we often see them, have the ability to to impact our native species because the native species just don't have a lot of natural resistance. So a great example of that would be emerald ash borer.

Chris Evans: 05:23

Right? Emerald ash borer is an exotic insect. Our native ash trees have zero real ability to resist them. And so what we're seeing is, these these invasive insects, emerald ash borer, are basically wiping out an entire genus of trees right through that just because of that that lack of resistance. And so that's we see that more with the pests and diseases than than the plants. But those both of those kind of relate to loss of species diversity, loss of native species, on our on our landscape.

Abigail Garofalo: 05:52

And that's a a really great transition. You know, we think people are like, oh, invasive species. Why does it matter? Why do I need to control it on my landscape? And on top of the ecological impacts, there's some impacts that can occur to people specifically and to a lot of our, economic industries, agriculture, fisheries. Can you speak a little bit to that, how invasives impact people?

Chris Evans: 06:15

Oh, sure. Absolutely. So the the first thing that comes to mind is one that I actually did a little research on for my thesis many, many years ago now, bush honeysuckle. Right? So bush honeysuckle, we know it has a lot of ecological impacts. But if you're also looking at economic impacts, there's great research, out there out of Ohio that looks at the growth rate of trees. And so bush honeysuckle, even though it's a shrub, it grows in the understory of a forest. It's a very, very strong competitor for nutrients and water and other resources. And it can actually impact the growth rate of your overstory trees, significantly, sometimes up by 50%. And so if you're a landowner that utilizes timber harvest, as a as, you know, economic gain and suddenly your trees are putting on half the amount of wood per year than they would otherwise, that adds up to a huge significant, you know, economic impact over over the the lifespan of your of your forest. Add to that the fact that your trees have a harder time regenerating or producing seedlings, and then you just it really, really does impact the the economics. There's other invasives that, you know, impact human health. Giant hogweed is one of them. Even spotted lanternfly that we talked about earlier, you know, it becomes a nuisance in the sense that it produces honeydew and it gets sooty mold, and it just really kinda detracts from the the quality of life of using the outdoors when it's when it's there.

Abigail Garofalo: 07:40

And you mentioned the emerald ash borer too. I mean, there's entire parkways, like streetscapes that have lost their entire tree canopy just due to, like, this this pest coming through. I mean, when we lose our urban canopy, we lose cooling effects, that really impact the livelihood of that street and how people feel comfortable outside and and deal with climate change. Speaking of, we're gonna see hotter temperatures and when we don't have our tree canopy, we we get hotter.

Erin Garrett: 08:09

Yeah. So as we shift into kind of looking at invasives in parallel to, you know, our changing climate, what kinds of general characteristics do we find in invasives? And I guess we can focus on plants for this question. But what kind of characteristics do they have that give them an advantage in our changing climate?

Chris Evans: 08:30

Sure. That's a great question. So I think I'm gonna take one step back and just talk about the way plants grow on the landscape, basically. And so I think you can kind of lump plants into 2 different groups broadly, habitat specialists and habitat generalists. Right? And so a habitat generalist would be a species that can grow in in a lot of different growing conditions. And and the example I like to use would be like shagbark hickory for a tree. Right? We see shagbark hickory, which is a native tree. It can grow in bottomland systems that are very wet and shaded environments. It can grow in very, very dry, open environments on the top of hills and in rocky situations, and it grows entirely across the entire, state of Illinois as well as in all the adjacent states. So that would be a very habitat generalist and also one that has wide kind of climatic tolerances. And there's a lot of species, including natives, that fall into that, and then the kinda opposite would be a habitat specialist. And so sticking with hickories, let's look at black hickory. And I don't know if you're all familiar with Carya texana black hickory, but it it is one that grows just in the southern part of the state. So it's very confined in its climatic growing. Right? So the climate it can grow in is is much smaller. As well as on the landscape, you really only find them in dry, rocky, upland environments with a bit of light. So it's a habitat specialist that has a very narrow window of of climate conditions as well as habitat conditions that it can thrive in.

Chris Evans: 10:04

And so those are specialists and generalists. And so our invasive species overall tend to be kind of extreme habitat generalist, which means that they can grow in a huge range of conditions. Right? They can grow across the landscape from bottomlands to uplands, dry, wet conditions, as well as they tend to have very, very wide climatic tolerances that just allow them to to grow, you know, across the whole range of Illinois and grow in all these climates. And so that really sets them up for being able to tolerate climate change much better than habitat specialists. Right? So as our our climate shifts and we expect our climate to shift, multiple ways, right, and changing the habitat as well as changing the the growing climate, we kind of expect many of our invasive species to do fine with that because of they're such a generalist. They there's such a a wide range of conditions that they can actually thrive in that they'll do well. And so that's really kind of one of the big things I think with invasive species that I think will make them kind of handle in climate change and actually probably become worse with climate change in general is that their ability to grow in a lot of different climates, a lot of different habitats.

Erin Garrett: 11:26

Yeah. I know when we first started hearing about, like, stiltgrass down in southern Illinois, you know, we'd find it in the woods and more in, like, wetter areas. And then we started just talking with other people, like, well, it's growing in full sun in my lawn or it's, like across the street here and it's in this habitat, it's moved into my neighborhood and, you know, we find that with some of them in particular, right, that they are able to withstand all those different conditions. And that's also one of those clues, right, too that maybe, something that's going on is not just non native that it is, you know, more of a concern and and an invasive to look at. But, yeah, it definitely makes it set up for them to then be able to withstand the changes that do occur right in range shifts that might happen moving into the future.

Chris Evans: 12:12

Oh, absolutely.

Abigail Garofalo: 12:13

That's a big deal for Illinois. We're a really long state. Right? Like, you both are in southern Illinois. I'm in northern Illinois. When you say, like, there's this specific tree that doesn't grow in northern Illinois, that's not uncommon. Right? Like, we have a lot of different ecotypes in in this area. And so it's to have this kind of like, oh, yeah. Anywhere in Illinois, it could work for them is is wild and a lot for a lot of different species because there are some that just grow in northern Illinois, some that just grow in southern, some that are weirdly in between. So some that are in our weird, driftless region in in northwest Illinois. So to have these kind of generalists to have a little bit more of an advantage than they already do is wild.

Chris Evans: 13:00

It is. And then I think too, like, we see the shifts. Right? We see the shifts in habitat, and some species are able to handle that or or even move to, you know, more suitable habitat. But a lot of our native species, don't have wind dispersed seeds or have seeds that don't move very far or they have long generation times and things like that. And so they may have a harder time moving to that suitable habitat if as that suitable habitat shifts, with invasive species, not only do they have such a wide tolerance, can grow anywhere, a lot of those are either wind dispersed, so like, tree of heaven, you know, things like that, or they're bird dispersed, like honeysuckle or bittersweet. And so they have high seed production and they move very easily on the landscape. And so that allows them to, I think, to follow the shifts in climate and and grow. So those southern species like stiltgrass that's very effective at moving may be able to take advantage of this changing climate and the shifts in suitable habitat much better than a lot of our native species that aren't as adapted to to moving on the landscape.

Abigail Garofalo: 14:09

I never thought about just by nature of their dispersal even. Not just, like, suitability, but also just dispersal techniques. Oh, interesting.

Erin Garrett: 14:17

I wonder too if, you know, as native species are as that suitable habitat like you say, as they could potentially move further north if they're moving into areas where there already are a bunch of invasives established, right, then they don't really have a chance to even move, right, into more of our natural areas. So thinking in that regard too, is like a prevention of natives from moving just with what's already on the landscape. Right? If we have a really dense, you know, invaded area, what are the chances that the natives are gonna be able to get a foothold too?

Chris Evans: 14:51

Oh, it's a very good point. Yeah. They just they're good. The invasives are good at occupying those niches quicker. Right? And so you're right. They may just not have the open space or the availability for the natives to move even if they could move. Right?

Abigail Garofalo: 15:05

Well, I don't know. My mind's blown by that idea that you've just brought up, Erin, too. I don't know how to move past it. But thinking too, you know, we've been talking more like, okay. Here's some general characteristics. Are there any specific species that we're really concerned about when it comes to climate change or just in general, if there's not any climate change specific ones? But once that we are just like, man, this is we gotta get a handle on this or this is a constant concern that is gonna be more of a problem.

Chris Evans: 15:32

Yeah. That's a great question. You know, I think the species that that can best take advantage of disturbances would be some of the ones that I'm most worried about. And then the reason why would be that, you know, we can expect with climate change, you know, extreme weather events moving, you know, increasing. We can expect droughts and, you know, windstorms and all these things to kind of increase in frequency, increase in size and severity. And so with that, we can expect a lot of disturbances on the landscape, you know, bare soil, canopy damage, you know, things like that. And so the species that do best in those kind of environments would be the ones I would be most worried about in terms of moving. And and I think we've already talked about stiltgrass, which has been in southern Illinois since the sixties. It's kind of moving north. It continues to move north. It's already been found in Wisconsin within the last couple years. It's one that I think is only going to get worse and worse across the state. I think chaff flower is another one that would be. And then ones that really do great at taking care of or taking advantage of those disturbances would be something like roundleaf bittersweet. And so roundleaf bittersweet as a as a invader, is really, really impactful to forest edges or or canopy gaps because it's a woody vine that can climb over the trees, and just basically overwhelm the trees. Right? And and pull them down, break them. But it really needs, or does best when it has some level of disturbance on the landscape. And so I I see that one becoming worse and worse, moving forward.

Erin Garrett: 17:07

We we like to leave on an upbeat note usually, and invasives can be kind of a downer. Right? So what can we do or how can we help through management, through controlling invasives? How does this also tie into, like, increasing our resilience to climate change?

Chris Evans: 17:25

It's a great question. I I agree that there's some hope. Right? For sure. I I I do worry when we talk about invasives that it gets really depressing. Right? Because we're talking about how bad they are and things like that. But I I always try to remind folks that we have wonderfully diverse native ecosystems across the state. We have an amazing amount of diversity in in plant life and animal life in Illinois in spite of the fact that we have invasives. And we have a lot of success stories out there of people, you know, successfully managing invasives or maintaining this diversity and all this, you know, in in the state.

Chris Evans: 18:01

So I think that it's not a lost cause, but I think that with especially with climate change, kind of understanding this issue, maybe reprioritizing which invaders that we need to focus on, we can kind of maybe predict these that are going to spread, highlighting them, managing those especially kind of at that leading edge where they're moving, into new environments would be really, really helpful in in kind of stemming some of those future problems, as well as just maintaining diverse ecosystems. And and we talked about it earlier that these invasives really like to take advantage of open niches, and and there's been a lot of research showing that a diverse ecosystem with a lot of with native species that's well functioning tends to be one that is a little more resilient to to invasion, and it's also ones that are much more resilient to changes in climate. Right? We have a lot of diversity that ecosystems a little more able to resist climate change or resist changes or adapt to to changes in climate change. So I think, you know, maintaining diversity, managing our natural areas, managing buffers around natural areas, getting invasive species, particularly those that are moving, are something that can be done in the state to really not only help against invasives, but also create that resiliency to climate change moving forward.

Abigail Garofalo: 19:25

From a home landscape perspective, thinking about, you know, like, all of our landscapes are connected regardless of if it's a natural area or your own yard. A lot of these places jut up against residential or private property. And so thinking about, you know, what do I have on my landscape? Do I wanna be a haven for these kinds of species? And the answer is no. You don't. Right? There's a reason that we don't want them in our natural areas. You probably don't want them in your yard and reducing introductions and potential invasives. Right? Like, the best way to to manage invasives is to prevent introduction in the 1st place.

Chris Evans: 20:01

Oh, yeah.

Abigail Garofalo: 20:01

So, yeah, like, thinking about what are you planting on your landscape even in the first place? Did you buy a house that had invasive species that now can no longer be sold? And so maybe it's time to remove that buckthorn hedge that you've been carefully curating and managing for the past 5 years. And so thinking about your landscape in that way as well is, you know, you have some control over that aspect and building that resilience in your own yard because having those monocultures in your own yard too is also promoting those kinds of things, in a negative way. So you want to have that biodiversity in your not only in the natural area, but in your landscape to build resiliency.

Chris Evans: 20:41

Absolutely. Yep.

Erin Garrett: 20:41

And that can be challenging too. Right? Especially if you don't like, it's hard to see that you're connected, right, into the larger environment. Right? So you might have invasive species in your yard and and not physically seen them spread or seen them drop seed and nothing you don't see little sprouts come up. I know I have invasive the privet where my lawn turned into privet because it dropped so many seeds, but you know you might have not seen that happen, but that doesn't mean necessarily that wildlife or insects are not coming and moving and transporting that into into a different area. So for certain species at certain times of year in of the year, right, you can visibly see that impact. You know, Callery pear we've talked about a lot previously, but really apparent when you see it in a yard and then across on the other side of the backside of the fence. Right? Or you see it planted in front of a store and then you see the strip of land that no one pays attention to between the next store and it's like completely full of them.

Erin Garrett: 21:41

Right? So sometimes it's really easy to see that impact and it might then click and make more sense, like, why I should do something about it. But still there are other options of plant replacements to put in, right, in your in your home landscape, and we're not downplaying the amount of work that it takes or that it might be hard to make those changes. Right?

Abigail Garofalo: 22:01

Or even find those plants.

Erin Garrett: 22:03

Exactly. Exactly. I know we we've done a lot of invasive removal and it it's not it's not always fun. But, you know, we're we're in it for the long the long haul and and and looking to kinda make those changes. And just show also that you can put in in natives in your landscape and they're beautiful and behave and and, you know, can be more of that, like, formal garden that a lot of people like to have that, like, aesthetic look to in addition to being beneficial for the environment.

Chris Evans: 22:35

Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, it does take a lot of intention, but we talk about the impact of of invasive species in your yards, talk about the impact of even planting a few native species in terms of wildlife and creating stopovers and corridors for migrating birds. I think it it's it's hard to oversell just how important and how beneficial kind of creating these islands of of of wildlife habitat or islands and native species within, you know, residential landscapes can be, right, for wildlife. And so I I think that is, is also I think people maybe not see that and maybe not understand just how beneficial their efforts can be, but it really can be.

Abigail Garofalo: 23:18

Lots of people out there who are hearing this and feel just kind of rallied a little bit. If I'm someone who doesn't know, what can I do to support efforts in combating invasive species and mitigating climate change? Because we know those things are connected.

Chris Evans: 23:33

Well, kind of on top of what we talked about making changes in your own yard or your own landscape, volunteering with local land management agencies is is always always beneficial. There's a lot of work out there on our on our public lands. There's not enough folks to do the work, and so I know that there's always, a welcome, contributions from from volunteers. So taking part in, like, garlic mustard pulls or getting out and controlling invasive species, even something as simple as looking for new invasives and mapping them using programs like EDDMapS or iNaturalist. And if you see, you know, the new species or something that's new to your your area that you haven't seen before, kind of identifying it, mapping it, letting somebody know can really help us develop those priorities. Right? Know, you know, where are the hot spots in the state that we need to focus on. And, so it's something as simple as just contributing to citizen scientist projects can be super impactful. And then, you know, again, promoting native species, talking to your neighbors to try to get them to take out their Callery pears, things like that as well.

Abigail Garofalo: 24:42

One of my favorite things I've been seeing online lately is they'll they'll be, like, a person who's, like, in the know about plant species and invasives and ecology, walking with someone who doesn't, and the person who doesn't know things will be like, wow. Look at that beautiful, like, section right there. Like, aren't isn't that beautiful? And it's like tree of heaven or something like that. And then he's like, it's invasive.

Abigail Garofalo: 25:02

It's invasive. It's invasive. And so, like, it may kind of, like, shift your outlook on on your nature walk and also show this, like, awesome potential when you do see these great things. And and so I always think that's kinda funny. That's, like, it's invasive. It's invasive.

Erin Garrett: 25:18

Yep. It can be overwhelming for sure. But I really like I love iNaturalist. I know we talk about this on the pod too. And EDDMapS is great because a lot of, you know, the information that we have on plant distributions is based on historical data.

Erin Garrett: 25:33

And so being able to have, like, up to date range maps is super super helpful when it comes to paying attention and getting on the forefront of these infestations, right, especially as they move with climate change. So being able to report and see as that data is added. I know when I did my master's research, I submitted, like, 250 or something, like observations into EDDMapS. So it really, like, lit up where, sericea was in southern Illinois. But having that information, right, like, every little bit counts and helps just to kind of see, you know, like, you could have one county report, but if everyone gets in and it's like, well, actually, it's like all over the place. Right? That tells it much different picture than than just having that that one data point. So really important if you're seeing it and and a lot of these, you know, it's really easy to just add an observation and and it can be verified and and added to that database is super, super helpful and and something that everyone can do.

Chris Evans: 26:29

Oh, absolutely. And not only does it help us prioritize species, but it also is great justification if we're ever looking at regulating species or anything like that just to really know exactly where they're at and then know the full scope of the problem. Right? There's a big difference if you're talking about a species being a problem, like you said, and there's 1 or 2 records in the state versus 500. Right? It just really, really adds weight to an argument if you have a a clear kind of up to date picture of of actually what's going on.

Abigail Garofalo: 26:59

And it usually takes, like, 3 to 5 years once, like, something is declared a noxious weed to fade it out of big box stores and and as the selling. So, like, Callery pear is a great example. Like, it's still being sold. It's not even designated as a noxious weed. And if we designated it tomorrow, it'd take 3 to 5 years before it wasn't sold anymore because there are nurseries that, you know, people are have to invest time in growing a tree and getting it planted. So so yeah. So, like, that data, the sooner, the better, it's available because we know it's a problem, but we have to convince legislators essentially to make it a priority. Well, Chris, do you have anything else you want us to know about invasive species or climate change, when it comes to that topic?

Chris Evans: 27:45

You know, I think the the the thing that I haven't talked about we talked a lot about invasive plants, and I just wanna get hit really quickly invasive pest and diseases. And so I think we haven't talked about kind of how they may react to climate change. And and one of the the things that I see would be climate change and then the shift from away from the suitable growing environment that we talked about for our native species is a stressor to our native species, the ones that are kind of already rooted in the ground. Right? They can't move. But as the climate shifts out from under them to a less suitable environment or we get these extreme weather events, it's a stress on those plants, particularly long lived plants like trees. And, when a plant or, is stressed, it tends to be have a loss of vigor. It tends to have a loss of, you know, kind of defenses that it can they can handle. And so one thing we can expect as well is that impacts, you know, from even native pests and diseases, but especially invasive pests and diseases, may increase or, as our plants become more and more stressed and less built they have less ability to to defend against them. So that's something that just kind of I I really am a plant geek, so I tend to talk mostly about, you know, the plant side of things, but I wanted to just make sure that I touched on the the insect and pest side as well.

Abigail Garofalo: 29:04

Yeah. I I always like to remind people, and I I talk about lawns a lot in my role up in Cook. But, you know, plants that are stressed. So just like humans, when humans haven't, like you know, maybe I've had a week where I haven't eaten well. I have been just, like, on the run all the time, and I haven't been taking care of myself very much. I find that, oh, I have a cold now the following week or something because my immune system is a little suppressed. I've been under stress a lot. Versus and plants are similar. When they're under conditions that are not ideal, where we're seeing these more extreme weather events that are causing a lot of stress on them. Now they're more susceptible to pests and diseases and very effective pests and diseases that are good at what they do because their job is to life well out as well. And so kind of thinking of it that way when it comes to resiliency is, like, we want healthy plants mean less problems. Are there any pests that we should be on the lookout for, like, nonplant when it comes to kind of just on the lookout for in general?

Chris Evans: 30:06

You know, I think there's some. So, like, for example, Laurel wilt, which is a a disease that's transmitted around by a a little exotic insect, is something that's been farther south than us. It impacts species in that Laraceae family, and for us in Illinois, that includes sassafras and and spicebush. And we're seeing it started in, you know, South Carolina, and now it's moved all the way into Kentucky. That's one that I would imagine is gonna move into, Illinois soon, particularly with climate change, and we may start seeing patches of sassafras start dying and things like that, which is, you know, a native species that has a lot of ecological benefits. So

Abigail Garofalo: 30:46

I was gonna say I love my spice bush. I'm looking forward to getting the caterpillars very specific to that species.

Chris Evans: 30:52

Exactly. So that's a big one. That is the one first one that comes to mind. You know, I think there's others. Dogwood anthracnose, we may see increases in and and a few things as well. But, you know, sometimes with pests, it's often the ones that we don't know anything about, that show up. Right? So emerald ash borer was unknown to anybody really in the United States until we started seeing trees dying in in Detroit. And so I worry about really unknown pests just showing up that we just it is not even on our radar.

Abigail Garofalo: 31:23

Well, I remember when you talked about spotted lanternfly that a a kind of a host is is a tree of heaven. It's generalist, but tree of heaven, we tend to see it liking that, and that's a invasive species that can take advantage of the changing climate really well. So if we're having more habitat options for those pests as well, we might be seeing those kinds of things.

Chris Evans: 31:44

Yep. Absolutely.

Abigail Garofalo: 31:45

Well, Chris, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge on invasives. It's always a pleasure having you on. Now we're going to finish today's episode with everyday observation where we highlight the mundane and normal of our environment that is actually really interesting. Erin, I'm gonna have you go first.

Erin Garrett: 32:03

Alright. So I was exploring a pollinator garden that we had put in next to our office in the last year, and I popped over there yesterday just to see how everything is going. There's so many blooms right now. We've got cup plant that is, like, 7 feet tall and blooming, and it was just planted last year. So, really excited to see blooms on that so early. Cardinal flower, lots of amazing beautiful blooms, but I was out there for a little while just, you know, seeing what I could observe and found some really cool insects.

Erin Garrett: 32:38

And one that I wanted to talk about is the great black digger wasp, which is super cool. It's a very large wasp. So at first I thought it was a butterfly that was flying around, but these can get an inch to an inch and a half in size. Then I'm like, oh, it's a wasp. But these are really friendly and they typically will find insects and sting them to like paralyze them and then bring them back to their nest. Kinda like a cicada killer, which I feel like we've talked about before. Bring back to their nest for their young to eat, then the adults will feed on flowers, on the pollen and the nectar. So I was just there for a while and they were buzzing around. Some of them have, like, a blue hue to them. They're really, really pretty and they're super calm. Like I had my camera right up next to them and they weren't fazed by it. So just another reminder that there are lots and lots of different wasps that will visit pollinator gardens. And for the most part, they're not aggressive and not something to be concerned about and they're just doing their job, helping get rid of some of the insects that we don't like in our gardens too. So continuing with that food food web. Right? But really cool to kind of see them up close and and just watch as they were they're doing their business. So that was my observation.

Abigail Garofalo: 33:50

Nice. What was it called again? What's the species?

Erin Garrett: 33:52

A great black digger wasp.

Abigail Garofalo: 33:54

I just I asked because I'm gonna go look it up now because I get and I wonder if it's, like, range is because I definitely, on my mountain mint, get, like, these really big, like, almost huge

Erin Garrett: 34:06

That's where it was. It was on the mountain mint. Yeah. I bet you're saying I put it in iNaturalist and it's and it looks like it's across the entire state looking at the range map. So

Abigail Garofalo: 34:16

Okay. Yeah. It looks alarming when you first see it, but it's very cool to observe. And it's, like, its colors, it's just a very, like I I don't wanna say charismatic because it's an insect, but to me it's charismatic because it's, like, big and it's color like, it's got this really interesting colors and it's not just, like, you know, like a sweat bee kind of thing. It's it's different. So very cool. Well, now good. Now I know what it is. Alright, Chris. What's your everyday observation?

Chris Evans: 34:43

So I got 2. So one is invasive related. I'll do real quick and then the actual one. So the first invasive related one was I recently got to actually see firsthand spotted lanternfly. So

Abigail Garofalo: 34:55

Wow. In southern Illinois? No. No. No. Not in southern Illinois. This is I was on a trip. Yep. Yep. Nope. I I was out east on a trip, and it was in just outside of Washington, DC. We were camping in the Washington National Forest over there, George Washington National Forest, and our campground had a bunch of tree of heaven, and the spotted lanternfly was literally falling and landing on our, picnic table while we were camping there. So

Erin Garrett: 35:20

Oh my gosh.

Chris Evans: 35:22

That was, we made sure everything was clean before we packed it up and moved it and all of that for sure. But first time I've actually seen it live in person.

Abigail Garofalo: 35:30

Yeah. Yeah. It's like one of those observations you're like, oh, that's really cool. And also, like, you know too much to enjoy it.

Chris Evans: 35:36

Yep.

Erin Garrett: 35:37

That's what I was gonna say. I was just in Pennsylvania earlier this year, and I was like, I wanna see it. You know, it's invasive, so you don't wanna see it. I'm like, I'm here, and I really wanna see it. And it was the last day of a conference, and some people were like, oh, yeah. We saw it. They like, it were just emerging. They're like, we saw some on the sidewalk. So then I was out looking around try and I didn't see any. But I'm like, it's okay that I'm not like it's fine. But, yeah, kinda jealous that you got to see them firsthand. Right?

Chris Evans: 36:04

Yeah. Yeah. It's kinda interesting.

Abigail Garofalo: 36:05

And not in our state.

Chris Evans: 36:07

Exactly. Not in our state. That's the best part. Somewhere else. Yeah. But the the real observation and the cool observation, we talked about this earlier before we we started recording, is I recently got back from this trip and my my daughter got married. Right? So she got married in a beautiful state park in West Virginia. And so it was really, really beautiful wedding. Part of the whole, ceremony was, of course, I was walking my daughter down the aisle. We had this little footpath that came from the cabins down the hill across the creek and over to the pavilion where they were getting married. Before they were ready to come out of the cabin and everything, there was a beautiful timber rattlesnake sitting right beside the trail. Coiled up, dark black. It was rattling. It was just amazing to see.

Chris Evans: 36:54

And so that and so that gathered a crowd around it. Everybody was interested. And so I've got some neat pictures of, like, the snake coiled up. And then in the background, you could see all the the setup with the chairs and things for the wedding. But the funny part was so everybody went back into their seat, and I went up the hill to the cabin to get my daughter and her our bridesmaids. Right? And I was gonna walk them down the trail, and then we're gonna do the whole ceremony. So I had to warn them ahead of time. Right? I was like, just so you know, there's a rattlesnake on the trail. Not a big deal. Just walk right by it. Everything's gonna be fine. So we start going down the hill, and the snake is gone. It had moved. So I had to tell them, okay. Just so you know, the rattlesnake is somewhere, and I don't know where it's at. So there's a little bit of concern.

Abigail Garofalo: 37:37

Every bride's dream.

Chris Evans: 37:41

So it was fine. It was an uninvited, but a welcome guest to the to the wedding.

Abigail Garofalo: 37:46

What a unique perspective on a rattlesnake at a wedding. I feel like Chris put his naturalist hat on and was like, everybody, this is what the species is. Let me get some good photos, tell you about it, do a little environmental education.

Erin Garrett: 38:03

I love that. I was waiting for you to say I was walking her down the aisle and I got distracted by something, you know, and I'm like,

Chris Evans: 38:10

Nope. No distraction. We were focused

Abigail Garofalo: 38:11

He had already sussed out the the space. He already knew what was there.

Chris Evans: 38:17

Yep.

Erin Garrett: 38:17

I love that. Hey. I had a bridesmaid catching snakes, on my wedding day, so it was not obviously, not a rattlesnake. It was I think it was, like, some green, I don't know, snake that was friendly.

Erin Garrett: 38:29

But she was, like, diving across in her dress, like, picking up snakes. And I'm like, alright. You know?

Chris Evans: 38:34

Oh, that's perfect.

Erin Garrett: 38:35

It's fine.

Abigail Garofalo: 38:36

Again, I find myself alone in this space because I do not have any snakes at my wedding.

Erin Garrett: 38:42

Alright, Abigail. What's your everyday observation?

Abigail Garofalo: 38:46

Yeah. So and, Erin, you can help me with this. I had my first sighting of, like, a clear winged moth in my yard. I think it was a hummingbird moth. Right?

Erin Garrett: 38:56

Yeah. There's 2 different.

Abigail Garofalo: 38:57

Think it was the hummingbird moth, and it was just really delightful to see, and I could see it, like, just skipping from flower to flower and, like, you could see it's, like, really long proboscis, like, just kind of, like, jutting out and into the it was in, the garden phlox that are in my yard. And so it was just really exciting to see and just to, again, like, a really different kinda charismatic species that you see. And, my son was, like, really afraid of it because he he, like he likes to see things twice or 3 times before he really gets into it. He really wanted to pick up, like, what do you call those, like, black beetles with the big mandibles?

Chris Evans: 39:35

Like a stag beetle or something.

Abigail Garofalo: 39:36

Yes. It was a stag beetle, and, like, he really wanted to pick that up, and I wasn't there. So my my partner was like, I don't know. That's a mom question. And then, like, so, like, there's certain things he's willing to touch, but this, he was like, no. That's too weird. But, like, I think they're so cool and just you can observe them. Something about, like, learning about their behavior just by observation instead of reading is just so special. And so, yeah, I just got to I got to see a clear wing moth. It was a hummingbird moth, and it was very, very cool in my yard. Nice.

Chris Evans: 40:05

I always like those. Right? They're one of the few if and correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the few diurnal moths. Right? One of the moths that are more active in the daytime versus a lot of our moths are active at night or or in the dusk hours. So it's kind of a neat one to see flying around.

Erin Garrett: 40:21

For sure. Yeah. They're always I always love when we get to see them. And it gives you an idea too of one of the characteristics of that moth is it doesn't land when it feeds, unlike a lot of our butterflies. Right? They land on the flower, and then they'll feed, but the clearwings don't. They're, like, hovering and moving, and sounds like a lot of effort while eating. But it's really obviously, because they're just constantly moving. They don't, like, land. I've only seen one ever once, like, sitting still, and I think it had, like, just, like, emerged, because it was really, really early in the spring. But, otherwise, you know, you always see them on the move.

Abigail Garofalo: 40:57

Yeah. You know what? I didn't see it land ever. So I just but it, like, stayed in the area for a long time, but it always just kinda yeah. Like, just moved. It made me exhausted watching it now that you say that. So well, again, Chris, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us about invasives. You can come back anytime. We always enjoy chatting with you.

Chris Evans: 41:17

Oh, happy to do it.

Abigail Garofalo: 41:18

This has been another episode of the Everyday Environment podcast. Check out next week where we talk with Brodie Dunn about the impacts of climate change on pollinators. This podcast is a University of Illinois Extension production production, hosted and edited by Abigail Garofalo, Erin Garrett, and Amy Lefringhouse.

Matt Wiley: 41:42

University of Illinois Extension.