A large, brightly colored invasive species called the Joro spider is on the move in the United States. Populations have been growing in parts of the South and East Coast for years, and many researchers think it’s only a matter of time before they spread to much of the continental U.S.But spider experts say we shouldn’t be too worried about them.“My sense is people like the weird and fantastic and potentially dangerous,” said David Nelsen, a professor of biology at Southern Adventist University who has studied the growing range of Joro spiders. “This is one of those things that sort of checks all the boxes for public hysteria.”Scientists instead worry about the growing prevalence of invasive species that can do damage to our crops and trees — a problem made worse by global trade and climate change, which is making local environmental conditions more comfortable for pests that previously couldn’t survive frigid winters.“I think this is one of those ‘canary in the coal mine’ type species where it’s showy, it’s getting a lot of attention,” said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the entomology department at Michigan State University. But the shy critter poses little risk to humans. Instead, Burrack said, introduced pests like fruit flies and tree borers can do more damage.“This is a global concern, because it makes all the things that we do in terms of conservation, in terms of agricultural production, in terms of human health, harder to manage,” she said.WHAT IS THE JORO SPIDER?The Joro spider is one of a group of spiders called orb-weavers, named for their wheel-shaped webs. They’re native to East Asia, have bright yellow and black coloring and can grow as long as three inches (8 cm) when their legs are fully extended.However, they’re pretty hard to spot at this time of year because they’re still early in their life cycle, only about the size of a grain of rice. A trained eye can spot their softball-sized webs on a front porc …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnA large, brightly colored invasive species called the Joro spider is on the move in the United States. Populations have been growing in parts of the South and East Coast for years, and many researchers think it’s only a matter of time before they spread to much of the continental U.S.But spider experts say we shouldn’t be too worried about them.“My sense is people like the weird and fantastic and potentially dangerous,” said David Nelsen, a professor of biology at Southern Adventist University who has studied the growing range of Joro spiders. “This is one of those things that sort of checks all the boxes for public hysteria.”Scientists instead worry about the growing prevalence of invasive species that can do damage to our crops and trees — a problem made worse by global trade and climate change, which is making local environmental conditions more comfortable for pests that previously couldn’t survive frigid winters.“I think this is one of those ‘canary in the coal mine’ type species where it’s showy, it’s getting a lot of attention,” said Hannah Burrack, professor and chair of the entomology department at Michigan State University. But the shy critter poses little risk to humans. Instead, Burrack said, introduced pests like fruit flies and tree borers can do more damage.“This is a global concern, because it makes all the things that we do in terms of conservation, in terms of agricultural production, in terms of human health, harder to manage,” she said.WHAT IS THE JORO SPIDER?The Joro spider is one of a group of spiders called orb-weavers, named for their wheel-shaped webs. They’re native to East Asia, have bright yellow and black coloring and can grow as long as three inches (8 cm) when their legs are fully extended.However, they’re pretty hard to spot at this time of year because they’re still early in their life cycle, only about the size of a grain of rice. A trained eye can spot their softball-sized webs on a front porc …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
