Registration for this meeting is closed. A video of the meeting will be available within a few days on this website.
Pelican Island Audubon resumes its general meetings for the 2020-2021 season with Dr. Carey Minteer, assistant professor, weed biological control, Entomology and Nematology Department, UF/IFAS, speaking about the Biological control of invasive plants in Florida on September 21, 2020 starting at 7:00PM. This meeting will be held online via Zoom. Read the instructions and signup below to register for the meeting:
Learn more about Dr. Carey Minteer
Dr. Minteer works to develop solutions for controlling the state’s invasive weed problems through classical biological control and integrated pest management. Dr. Minteer is currently working to control the Brazilian peppertree, one of the state’s most wide-spread invasive plant species and air potato, a climbing vine from Asia.
Dr. Minteer’s familiarity with geographic information systems, or GIS, and remote sensing brings an innovative approach for invasive species research to the UF/IFAS Fort Pierce laboratory. Minteer utilizes satellites to collect spectral signatures, or light reflectance, from plants. With these tools Dr. Minteer is able to select a large swath of land and collect data about the extent of an infestation of an invasive plant species and, over time, monitor changes in that infestation.
The science involved in the biological control of invasive plant species is sophisticated, and when successful, saves millions of dollars annually because of the reduced need for expensive mechanical and/or chemical control methods.