Our conker trees are under attack by 'alien' invaders!
Have you noticed whitish patches on the leaves of horse chestnut trees? By the middle of summer, the whitish patches die and turn brown. Sometimes whole trees turn brown, and it looks like autumn has come early.
The damage is caused by a tiny 'alien' species of leaf-mining moth, which is invading the UK. For biologists, an 'alien' is a species not naturally found in an area or habitat. The moth’s caterpillars eat the leaves from the inside. Infected trees are weakened, and produce smaller conkers.
Can bug-eating bugs save the trees?
Luckily, there is help at hand. Many of the invading moths are killed by natural pest controllers in the form of other tiny insects. These insects lay their eggs inside the caterpillars of the leaf-mining moths, and when the eggs hatch, the larvae slowly eat the caterpillars, eventually killing them. This is one way in which living things interact with each other in our web of life.
What can we do?
Scientists are finding out more about the invading alien moths and the pest controllers - see the video for more information.
Joining in today. Although the moths will not be active until May, you can register today to receive news about the research and reminders when to take part. You can help. Your missions, should you choose to accept them, are:
New! Take part in the Mission: alien moth survey with our Leaf Watch app for iPhones and Android smartphones.
The app was been developed by ILRT and funded by JISC
Help to discover how many alien moths are being killed by pest controllers, by collecting leaves and recording which insects hatch out from them
Help to find out whether the number of pest controllers varies locally, depending on how long ago the invasion started
This mission is for everyone who can find an affected horse chestnut tree
Do you choose to accept your missions? Register your interest to receive the results of our research, and to accept the missions.
Click here to find out more about the missions.
Conker Tree Science News
15 Jan 2012. Conker Tree Science is one of the projects featured in our invasive species recording project with the Observer.
16 Sep 2011. Darren and Michael are on The One Show (BBC1 TV) talking about the project. This follows recent press coverage in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 4's Farming Today.
28 July 2011. Stephen Fry likes our app! Join with the thousands of others and take part in the Mission: alien moth survey with the app or via this website.
19 July 2011. Our app is featured on BBC Midlands Today television program.
18 July 2011. Our iPhone app is in the top ten 'new and newsworthy' apps on the App Store.
14 July 2011. Conker Tree Science is featured on BBC Radio Leeds and ITV Yorkshire's Calerdar program.
8 July 2011. The Conker Tree Science: Leaf Watch app honoured as a 'New & Noteworthy' iPhone Education app and the Android version is described as 'rather excellent'. Excellent critical acclaim for the team that developed it.
7 July 2011. Conker Tree Science is featured in the Guardian, BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Nottingham.
Take part in Mission: alien moth survey with our new Leaf Watch app for iPhones and Android smartphones.
Article on the identification of the species of pest controllers published in British Wildlife.
News Archive (2010)
Conker Tree Science features on Autumnwatch Unsprung (14 October 2010) and BBC Radio Humberside (15 October 2010).
Now that conkers are out, the results of Conker Tree Science are again in the news: BBC Midlands Today (7 October 2010) and The Independent (3 October 2010).
