The Paper's reporter Wang Yu reported comprehensively
According to Hawaii news site Honolulu Civil Beat, alien species invasion has always been one of the most important issues affecting Hawaii's ecological environment. Recently, an environmental group in Hawaii discovered that dogs can be trained to deal with the invasive plant species "Devil Grass".
The plant was discovered on Oahu in 2011. Because it is toxic to cattle and highly flammable, local officials fear it could damage local livestock and fuel the threat of wildfires in Hawaii. Environmental groups say dogs can quickly identify "devil's grass" after training, which helps people better remove invasive species.
On the north coast of Hawaii's island of Oahu, after about 50 minutes of sniffing, Qana, a 4-year-old Belgian shepherd, found today's first invasive plant, Chromolaena odorata, better known by its name, which ranks 23rd on the list of "100 most harmful invasive species in the world." In the Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment, the risk level of "devil's grass" is also quite high.
Cana the Shepherd is one of several dogs volunteered by the conservation dogs of Hawaii, an environmental group. The Honolulu-based environmental group was founded in 2016 by Kyoko Johnson. Johnson, a professional dog trainer who specializes in dog ecological odor detection training, initially hoped to train dogs for cancer detection, but quickly changed his research focus and began a pilot project to train dogs to find devil's grass, because the latter's reproduction rate and ecological damage are far greater than expected.
Aircraft grass, also known as vanilla and Siamese grass, has been included in the list of china's first invasive alien species by the Chinese government in 2003 and is considered to be the most influential grass among invasive species in the African rainforest. Wikipedia Figures
Native to the Americas, Devil's Grass is extremely fertile and is a competitive, harmful species that can grow to heights of 4 to 15 feet and quickly take over its surroundings. The Hawaiian Oahu Army Natural Resources Program (OANRP) first found traces of the plant at the Kahuku off-road track on Oahu in 2011. OANRP then alerted the Invasive Plant Commission on Oahu. Later, people found "devil grass" in Kahana Canyon, Pupuchia, Aiya and other places.
Erin Bishop, the external coordinator of the Oahu Invasive Plants Commission, said in an interview with the media that because the Kahuku off-road track is also a military training area, the most logical speculation is that the seeds of the "Devil's Grass" are likely to have been hitchhiked by military vehicles and spread from Guam to Hawaii. Since World War II, Guam has also been occupied by a series of invasive species, such as "devil's grass", coconut rhino beetles, and palm tree snakes, which have brought near destruction to Guam's birds.
In a species invasion pathway analysis conducted in 2015, the U.S. Forest Service also identified importing live plants as the most risky way to bring pests and diseases into Hawaii. As a result, the Oahu Invasive Species Commission has been working with Johnson's CDH since 2018 in hopes of training dogs to help people eradicate "devil's weed."
Johnson said the leaves of the Devil's Grass have a smell similar to turpentine when crushed. And its biggest harms are two: one is that it contains a chemical that can burn even when not drying; The second is to be toxic to livestock such as cattle and horses.
While eating a lot of Devil's Weed can also lead to dog poisoning, John says that trained dogs don't try to eat the plant, they just find the target and wait for the reward, a training process that involves the classic principle of conditioned reflexes.
"It's a bit like Pavlov's dogs, who drool when they hear a food-related bell. We pair the target smell with the dog's food or toy reward, and when the dog wants to get the food or toy, they start looking for the target smell. Johnson said.
Kyoko Johnson, founder of the Hawaiian Protected Dog Society, and Solo, a 9-year-old yellow Labrador, were the first dogs trained to detect "devil's grass."
Johnson said that while many dogs have a good sense of smell, dogs that take on this type of work only need to have a few basic characteristics, including physical endurance, self-confidence, work spirit and social skills. Johnson trained a total of 9 dogs to find "Devil's Grass", of which the oldest one is 9 years old, the youngest is only 8 months old, and the shepherd Cana is the most abundant. According to the GPS findings in the Kana collar, it can walk 5 miles at a time, sniff for more than two hours, and be energetic. Once the devil grass is spotted, Kana will point his nose at the plant and then circle around it, or look back and forth between the plant and the person to remind the trainer, and finally the trainer rewards it with a frisbee.
After the devil grass root system has been excavated, the staff must record the location of the discovery and determine whether the plant has matured. Because if the plant has matured, its flowers will sow seeds, further exacerbating the spread. The Invasive Plants Council must come back some time later to look for the newborn plants.
It is reported that in addition to looking for "devil grass", the USDA is also currently training dogs to sniff and look for breeding sites for coconut rhinoceros beetles. More recently, Johnson also took a 1-year-old Labrador to Maui, Hawaii, to help locals find the invading coqui frogs, which were accidentally introduced to Hawaii from Puerto Rico in the 1980s and are still in the testing phase.
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