Webinar: A Potential New Nemesis for Garlic Mustard?

Join Rebecah Troutman Natural Areas Biologist from Holden Forests and Gardens to learn about a newly discovered enemy of the invasive garlic mustard that may help us in our fight against the pesky plant. This webinar will teach participants how to find and identify Liaphis alliariae, a garlic mustard specialist aphid native to Europe. In the 2021 field season during routine garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) management, at the Holden Arboretum in northeast Ohio, the Natural Areas Biologist noticed damaged garlic mustard plants infested with aphids. Affected plants produced twisted seed pods and puckered/wilted leaves. The aphid was identified as Liaphis alliariae, a garlic mustard specialist aphid native to Europe and previously unrecorded in the United States. Given the importance of controlling garlic mustard, the novel nature of the newly discovered aphid in the United States, we are trying to better understand the impact this species has on garlic mustard- could it be a desperately needed biocontrol agent? Our objective is to quantify the impact of this novel aphid on garlic mustard and map its current distribution- but we need your help! This workshop will teach you how you can contribute to this effort, learning how to identify the aphid in comparison to other aphids. Participants will also learn how to join the citizen science effort to report the aphid’s distribution via the EDDMapS website and phone application.