Spread by a rice-sized, plant-hopping insect, lethal bronzing has gone from a small infestation on Florida's Gulf Coast to a nearly statewide problem in just over a decade. Tens of thousands of palm trees have died from the bacterial disease, and the pace of its spread is increasing, adding to environmental woes of a state already struggling to save its other arboreal icon, citrus trees, from two other diseases.
If nothing is done, Bahder said, "I don't think all the palm trees will die, but the issue we see will get a lot worse before it gets better." "To understand the disease, I need to watch it spread and see what it is doing," said Bahder, an assistant professor with UF. Genetic testing shows lethal bronzing likely originated in Mexico's Yucatan region. Bahder's hypothesis is that 2005's Hurricane Wilma, which tracked from the Yucatan to Florida, or a storm with a similar path carried infected treehoppers across the gulf to Tampa. Those insects infected area palms, which infected native treehoppers. The disease spread when winds blew infected bugs to new territories or they hitched rides on vehicles.
"It's not like it marches through a tree population -- you don't see one dead tree after another," Muecke said. "It hops around; it's pretty sporadic."
Maybe thats what penatrated the florida peoples brains after reading some of the bizaar shit thats been going on there.
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