Aussie council's innovative idea to combat invasive pest taking down city's trees
Native to Southeast Asia, the polyphagous shot-hole borer was first found in Fremantle, WA, in 2021 — confusing experts on how it got into the country and sparking fears the destructive beetles could wipe out forests and agricultural crops. The issue has since escalated rapidly, with entire sections of greater Perth put into quarantine in September last year as authorities scrambled to thwart the tiny critter.
In November, the City of Canning, which overseas the southeastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city, urged residents to help in the fight by keeping an eye out for the pest, especially if they had a particular list of trees in their garden.
Earlier this year, the council began a state-first trial by pioneering a new technique to thwart the invasive pest. The council has been injecting infected trees with small pills filled with fungicide and insecticide in a bid to kill of the pest and restore tree health.
And the early data is very promising.
"The City is continuing its trial of chemical treatment of Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB) at Bicentennial Adenia Reserve to gather further data supporting the current findings," the city's mayor Patrick Hall told Yahoo News on Friday.
"Following a recent inspection from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) representatives a reduction in the number of live beetles and active fungus in borer galleries has been confirmed."
Entire Aussie city quarantined as bug threat spreads
Harvey Norman bed discovered riddled with invasive species from China
New predatory bug species uses 'tool' to assassinate prey
According to Hall, every local government in WA "is under threat" from the species. While the City of Canning is confident the early signs from the trial could put them on path to some sort of panacea, the results are still being reviewed by the council's academic partners "for validity".
"While not a complete solution to PSHB, this trial is part of the City of Canning's commitment to sustainable urban forest management and is a key step in an integrated pest management approach, combining tree health initiatives, pruning, and innovative control methods," Hall said in a statement to Yahoo.
The council will release further information as additional trial data is reviewed.
Speaking to Nine News Perth this month, John Szymanski from BioHerbicides Australia, which is helping carry out the field work in the trial, explained the simple idea.
"I thought hang on, it's an insect, it's a fungus, why can't we put an insecticide and a fungicide in the capsule, and put it in the tree?
"It's the difference between keeping a tree alive, and just removing it," he said.
The council wants state government endorsement and funding to conduct further trials and hopes the treatment ultimately means fewer trees will have to be cut down and the door opened to potential eradication. If so, it's a technique the council says could be used in other parts of Australia where the pest has caused trouble.
Meanwhile residents in WA are urged to keep doing their part and remain vigilant for the bugs.
If anyone discovers tiny holes the size of a ball point pen in clusters, they are urged to report the suspected infestation to DPIRD.
Affected trees can "quickly become public safety hazards and a constant source of beetles that can disperse to neighbouring trees, causing spread," the department's website says.
Originally from southeast Asia, the tiny creatures have now invaded several countries including the United States and Israel. One of the worst impacted countries is South Africa where it's estimated to have caused $28 billion in damage.
Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
2 days ago
- CNN
CNN reports from Gaza aid crossing
Concerns grow over Australia's toxic algae bloom A harmful algae bloom off the coast of South Australia, caused by high sea temperatures and runoff from flooding, is poisoning marine life and depleting oxygen in the water. The Australian government has stated that there is little that can be done to reverse the rapid rate of the climate crisis.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Australian Life Sciences Venture Capital firm Brandon Capital announces Fund Six final close totalling over A$439m
MELBOURNE, Australia, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brandon Capital, Australasia's leading life sciences venture capital firm, today announced the final close of its sixth fund at A$439 million. Joining existing investors Hesta, Host Plus, CSL and QIC are the WA Government and Australia's sovereign investor in manufacturing capability, the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC). This final close of Brandon BioCatalyst Fund Six (BB6) will see Brandon Capital continue to invest in emerging biomedical technologies with strong commercial potential, translating these exciting discoveries into high-growth firms that positively impact human health. To date, Brandon Capital has raised over A$1 billion across previous funds with notable Fund Six investments to date including AdvanCell (radiopharma), PolyActiva (glaucoma implant), Myricx Bio (ADC) and CatalYm (oncology). Dr Chris Nave, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Brandon Capital, 'We're excited to welcome the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation to our sixth fund, joining HESTA, Hostplus, CSL, QIC and the WA Government. Closing at $439 million, BB6 is our largest fund to date, and we remain committed to advancing breakthrough biomedical innovations through our unwavering scientific rigour and disciplined capital allocation, in pursuit of exceeding our investors' expectations.' The firm has a track record of advancing its portfolio companies to commercialisation. Recent Brandon Capital portfolio company announcements include FDA approvals for a hypertension therapy from George Medicines and a left ventricular cardiac resynchronisation device developed by EBR Systems, with Q-Sera's blood collection tubes that produce high-quality serum faster and more reliably, recently approved in Japan. Brandon Capital has an active portfolio of over 30 companies with 17 in clinical trials, four advancing or in-market, a promising preclinical pipeline and several actively contributing to Australia's high-skilled manufacturing sector growth. Collectively supporting over 270 high-skilled Australian jobs are: surgical imaging innovator, OncoRes Medical, which has developed the first 'real-time' in cavity probe to improve cancer surgery outcomes; late-stage biotech PolyActiva, which is developing a long-term treatment for glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness; needle-free patch for vaccine delivery Vaxxas, and radiopharmaceutical company AdvanCell, which is developing novel therapies for the treatment of a range of cancers. NRFC CEO David Gall said, "Medical science has long development timelines, and it is important for the NRFC to make early and considered investments in the sector to attract the talent and capital that we will need to build our local commercialisation capabilities. If we want medical science jobs and industries to exist in Australia in ten years, we need to invest in them today." Brandon Capital, headquartered in Australia with offices in the UK and US, has established a transcontinental presence that strengthens collaboration across regions. Australian portfolio companies gain access to UK/EU/US capital, expertise, and pharma networks, while international companies benefit from Australia's world-class clinical trial and research capabilities. About Brandon Capital – Brandon Capital is Australasia's leading life sciences venture capital firm, with offices in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK. Its unique model includes proprietary deal flow through Brandon BioCatalyst, a collaboration of over 50 of ANZ's leading medical research institutions, and its immersive corporate services structure enables portfolio companies to focus on research commercialisation. With more than 30 active companies in its portfolio, Brandon Capital has been sourcing and supporting the transition of world-leading science into world-leading businesses for nearly two decades. For further information please contact Media – AustraliaKirrily Davis, E: kdavis@ M: +61 (0)401 220228 Media - InternationalSue Charles, Charles Consultants E: M: +44 (0)7968 726585 Chris Gardner, E: Chris@ M: +44 (0)7956 031077 About the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) The NRFC invests to diversify and transform Australia's industry and economy. It has $15 billion to invest using direct loans, equity investments and loan guarantees. The NRFC investment mandate covers seven priority areas including value-add in resources; transport; medical science; defence capability; renewables and low emission technologies; value-add in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; and enabling capabilities. The NRFC's role is to invest in Australian businesses and projects that design, refine and make in order to transform capability, grow jobs and a skilled workforce, and diversify our economy. NRFC is a corporate Commonwealth entity, established by the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation Act 2023 (NRFC Act) in September 2023. For more information, visit
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Don't get overwhelmed by 10,000 steps. Here's how many you may really need
Does the popular activity benchmark of walking 10,000 steps a day feel like too distant of a goal? Don't worry, you can get health benefits just by moving a little more than you already are, new research has found. When possible, aiming for 7,000 steps a day is a good objective, said lead study author Dr. Melody Ding, professor of public health at the University of Sydney. Ding and a team of researchers reviewed 31 different studies on the impacts of step count on health markers, including cardiovascular disease, dementia, type 2 diabetes, cancer, depressive symptoms and early death, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal The Lancet Public Health. Compared with people who got 2,000 steps a day, which researchers considered the minimal possible step count for adults, people who took 7,000 daily steps had a 47% lower risk of death from all causes. The more active adults also had a 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 38% lower risk of dementia. Many people who use fitness trackers see 10,000 steps as a sign they are getting enough movement in a day, but that number is not based on good evidence, said Dr. Sean Heffron, assistant professor of medicine at New York University Langone Health and NYU Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease. He was not involved in the research. Aiming for 10,000 steps likely originated from a marketing campaign for an early pedometer manufactured in Japan by Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company that was called Manpo-kei, or '10,000 steps meter' in Japanese, according to a 2019 study. Cardiologist Dr. Martha Gulati said she is usually skeptical when the benchmark is such a nice round number. Gulati was also not involved in the research. However, it is clear from this study and the existing data that moving more is fundamental for good health and is usually a sound idea, Heffron said. 'More than 7k doesn't do harm, and may even offer some additional benefits,' Ding said in an email. 'If one is already very active and doing 10+k a day, they definitely don't need to hold back and go back to 7k!' Why steps matter The study is a meta-analysis, which analyzes evidence across many studies and is one of the highest-quality kinds of research for making clinical recommendations, Heffron said. Measuring step counts as the recent study did is important not because walking is the only activity that matters, but rather because it is a good way to get a fairly accurate estimate of overall exercise levels, said Gulati, director of preventive cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. If a patient tells her they did half an hour of exercise, Gulati has to not only trust that they estimated the time accurately but also guess at the intensity of that time spent exercising, she said. On the other hand, if a patient is wearing a tracking device that said they walked 5 miles, that impact is clear whether they walked it, ran it, did it in one go or broke it up, she added. Unfortunately, many people are quite sedentary, but the baseline for human bodies is to be active, Heffron said. It makes sense that moving less is linked to more health problems. 'The less you move, the less your muscles get engaged, the less exerkines, which are these special chemicals that are released with muscle contractions that benefit levels of inflammation, benefit blood vessel health, but also improve insulin sensitivity and improve blood pressure, and probably have some impact on cognitive function,' he said. 'As there's less of that movement, the rates of all the detrimental conditions increase.' Physical activity also improves muscular strength, which can help protect against falls and fractures, Gulati said. From a cardiovascular perspective, exercise is linked to lower blood pressure, improved cholesterol and a better response to insulin, she added. You don't need a gym to get moving Most Americans could stand to move more, Gulati said. For people who aren't moving much, aiming for 7,000 steps a day may seem like a lot, but just getting started makes a big difference. 'Accumulating daily steps offers a broad range of health benefits. Even low step counts, such as 4k, offers health benefits than lower step counts,' Ding said in an email. The biggest bang for your buck in terms of your health comes from going from no exercise to adding any movement –– and then gradually building up to more regular activity from there, Heffron added. Maybe walking isn't your favorite way to get moving. Do things you enjoy, such as dancing, gardening, playing pickleball or hiking with a friend, Heffron said. Getting to the gym and dedicating a block of time to activity may not always be feasible, so he recommends finding ways in your day to add in a little bit more movement. You can get up every hour at work for a five-minute walk, which incorporates 45 minutes of activity in your day, he said. If you take the bus or subway, getting off a stop or two early and walking the rest of the way can also help you meet your fitness goals. 'It will add a few minutes onto your commute, but every one of those minutes is going to be involved in physical activity,' Heffron said. 'That all adds up little by little over the course of a day and week.' Getting more steps, however, may not be the best guideline for everyone, particularly those who are limited in their capacity to walk, Ding added. For seated exercises, try hand cycling or chair exercises with or without weights, Bishnu Pada Das, a certified personal trainer based in Kolkata, India, said in a previous CNN story. Sign up for CNN's Fitness, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide will help you ease into a healthy routine, backed by experts.
