Ohio State University scientists want your help.Entomologist Mary Gardiner wants Ohio residents to locate an invasive shrub, the common buckthorn.Residents can report their findings online to help fight agricultural and household pests that benefit from the presence of the common buckthorn, said Gardiner, assistant professor of entomology and director of the Agricultural Landscape Ecology Lab at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster.She is overseeing Buckthorn Watch, a new citizen-science program to map, study and manage the fast-growing shrub in Ohio, Michigan and Iowa.Volunteers must register at the website — buckthorn
watch.org — and watch a brief tutorial that will certify them as members of the Buckthorn Watch.They will log their findings via Google Maps and must estimate the size and density of the infestations.Gardiner said the volunteers are encouraged to send in photographs of the invasive shrubs and themselves.Schools, youth groups, garden clubs, farmers and others are welcome to get involved in the three-state program.The project, in cooperation with Michigan State University and Iowa State University, is funded by a federal grant.The months of September and October are ideal for locating buckthorn because of the purple berries found on shrubs that can grow as tall as 22 feet.Common buckthorn with its thorny branches is often found in disturbed areas and railroad rights of way, near power lines, in fence rows separating crop fields and on the edge of forests.It is a hardy plant and is known for its rapid growth and its ability to spread.It came to the United States in the early 1800s as a garden plant.It is also known as the European buckthorn and today is common across the eastern United States.It provides a food source and shelter for an invasive farm insect: the soybean aphid, Gardiner said.The aphid reduces crop yields and leads to increased pesticide use. It also spreads viruses to vegetable crops.The aphids are a preferred food source for the exotic multicolored Asian lady-
beetle. That ladybeetle feeds on fruits in late summer, contributes to the decline of native ladybeetle populations and invades homes during the winter.Buckthorn also out-competes native forest plants and contributes to the proliferation of exotic earthworms that have a negative impact on forest soil organisms.Volunteers in Buckthorn Watch can also help monitor aphids.For more information, contact Gardiner at 330-263-3643 or gardiner.29@osu.edu.Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.