Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
theguardian.com
Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
1–10 of 59 posts
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#2This is the plot of Gears of War
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#3I feel like news reports of invasive species usually end up with the invaders becoming endemic. Nice to see a successful eradication for once!
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#4For that long and "bloody-minded" an eradication effort, in so small an area (100m long, 30m deep) - it seems like it'd have been far quicker and cheaper to (say) saturate the ground with liquid nitrogen. (Assuming that the termites would all either freeze, or die for lack of oxygen.)
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#5Devon is a nice area, otherwise I think a small subterranean fusion bomb would have been the tidiest solution.
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#6I feel like news reports of invasive species usually end up with the invaders becoming endemic. Nice to see a successful eradication for once!
Yes, but it also demonstrates how difficult complete eradication of invasive species actually is. In this case, there was only a single location, and eradication still took decades and large amounts of money. Now imagine if there had been colonies at several different locations.
Most invasive species are only noticed when they are much more established and complete eradication is no longer an effective strategy.
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#7Devon is a nice area, otherwise I think a small subterranean fusion bomb would have been the tidiest solution.
With some luck you'd end up with radioactivity resistant termites owning the whole place.
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#8For that long and "bloody-minded" an eradication effort, in so small an area (100m long, 30m deep) - it seems like it'd have been far quicker and cheaper to (say) saturate the ground with liquid nitrogen. (Assuming that the termites would all either freeze, or die for lack of oxygen.)
I facetiously recommended a tactical thermonuclear explosive in a comment below, but on a more serious note, this was an issue of national security and surely they should have just used eminent domain to oust these people from their homes and then used some radical scorched earth solution as you suggest to just destroy this menace without prejudice. The British government is normally very judicious with eminent domain and will destroy your home if it is causing an unpleasant wind diversion for some species of rare seagull.
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#9Forgive me if I missed it in the article, but what species of termite was it and where is it native to?
Re: Devon calls victory in 27-year war on termites
#10This is a foreshadowing headline you read on a newspaper at the beginning of a SciFi movie about earth being invaded by the buggers.