In addition, one of our research partners, the Canadian Forest Service, is able to provide free accommodation for up to two or three researchers at their Smithers Field Station, the site of one set of common gardens. Smithers also has a vibrant artistic community, with outdoor music festivals and workshops during the summer months. Early replies would be appreciated, so we can plan accordingly. Wetlands across northern North America have been invaded by a European plant - purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria. A good example of this invasion occurred in the west pond at Jericho Park.
Purple loosestrife is an attractive plant, with pretty purple flowers.
However, it is capable of displacing native plants in wetland sites, and in the early 1990's the West Pond and Jericho Park was nearly a monoculture of this weed. In 1993 we released 30 individuals of a European beetle Galerucella calmariensis that feeds exclusively on purple loosestrife. These had been reared at the Agriculture and Agrifood Canada Laboratory in Lethbridge Alberta. In 1996 beetles collected from a site in Ontario where they had been effective at reducing loosestrife densities were also released at Jericho. By this year these leaf feeding beetles have reached high densities and are having a major impact on the loosestrife plants - most have been killed.