I have heard various things about this.
To start: The USDA predicts there are 3 undiscovered nests near Blaine. But, the first nest they wiped out had something like 200 queens in it.
Does this imply that each of these three nests sent hundreds of queens out?
I also heard that few of them survive to build their own nests. Why is this: poor tolerance of cold, high rates of non-viability in r-selected offspring?
If this will hold true, what does this mean for the number of nests we can expect to materialize? We may not see ~500, but will it be 5? 9? 20?
If they survive, how far will they spread from Blaine every year? How often has the radio-tracking worked?
I've heard that because most of the sightings are either of dead hornets or of ones that flew away from the observer, we have had few specimens that we can radio-collar. Are there ways of luring live ones out of hiding, like if drones flew through the forest and sprayed attractant or something?
How is the situation different in BC? I've heard that there have been fewer sightings, but also that they haven't been able to find a nest in quite a while, meaning that the hornets will be more established in BC than in WA.
How are things on Vancouver Island vs mainland BC?
Is there some other factor that I am neglecting to ask questions about (like potential founder effects)?
Have I misheard/misstated anything?
Lastly, is this a good subreddit for this question? I know there's a dedicated subreddit for this (r/MurderHornets, I think?), but it's quite a bit smaller than r/Entomology, and it seems to be dominated by people from across North America asking if the hymenopteran in their photos is Vespa mandarinia.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/comments/ldqcps/what_are_our_chances_of_eradicating_the_asian/
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