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Tamarisk Beetle Maps

Each year, with the help of numerous partners across thirteen states and Mexico, RiversEdge West produces an annual distribution map that notes the presence and absence of Diorhabda spp. from sampling sites across the west.
 
These data in no way represent all locations where the tamarisk beetle may exist, but give a broad perspective of beetle dispersal, providing land managers with information that may help with their integrated pest management plans, restoration strategies, and funding opportunities.
 
If you would like to track the tamarisk beetle and to aid in data collection for the largest ongoing ecological experiment in North America, please visit our tamarisk beetle monitoring program page or contact Ben Bloodworth directly at bbloodworth@RiversEdgeWest.org.
 

2020 Tamarisk Beetle Distribution Map

2019 Summary:

As in prior years, 2019 saw tamarisk beetles expand in some areas and decline in others. The beetles continued to move southward down the Colorado River to Yuma, appeared in the Verde watershed for the first time, and were also found in western Mexico, just across the border south of Organ Pipe National Monument. 
 
For the first time since 2013, there were very large populations of beetles in central and west Texas, but population sizes along the Rio Grande in New Mexico decreased dramatically. 
 
As populations ebb and flow, it is even more important to track where the beetles are found and where they are absent. Monitoring is proving to be more and more important as the beetle has not been present in the system for long and the dynamics of population movement and stability are not yet understood. 
 
Thank you to all of our many partners for providing the data represented in this year's map!  
 
The production of the Annual Tamarisk Beetle Distribution Map is generously funded by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
 

2019 Interactive ArcGIS Online Beetle Data Map

 
 
Previous Years' Distribution Maps

For more information contact Ben Bloodworth at bbloodworth@RiversEdgeWest.org 

 

 

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mission is to advance the restoration of riparian lands through collaboration, education, and technical assistance.

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