A QUEENSLAND Fruit Fly Monitoring Program is coming to Ballarat.<\/p>\n
Ballarat Permaculture Guild\u2019s Ben Nunquam said the BPG is seeking community members to be part of the citizen science experiment and data collection initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking for people to host traps in their yards across Ballarat to monitor how far south the fruit fly comes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe project is motivated by the effects of climate change, which is pushing the flies\u2019 environment ever-southward, and fleeting sightings, by AgVic and citizen scientists on iNaturalist in recent years, of the fly reaching further down from the northern Victorian Sunraysia growing regions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Saturday, 9 October, we\u2019re going to have a stall at the Farmers Market at Lake Wendouree to distribute traps that have been ordered, and welcome others who want to join the monitoring project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Nunquam said those motivated to keep good garden hygiene might also be keen to get involved, to gain a stronger understanding of the ways in which fruit trees or veggie patches can potentially cause issues, if not maintained in the optimum ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fruit fly breeds in uneaten fruit, so there\u2019s a community educational aspect to this project as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot many of us would consider fallen fruit in the yard a deep problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Queensland fruit fly was discovered by a guild member in their garden earlier this year for the first time.<\/p>\n
The Ballarat Permaculture Guild hopes to lessen the flies\u2019 spread, as \u201cwithout action, our backyard and community gardeners… could face serious crop losses.\u201d<\/p>\n
They encourage residents to head along to the market this weekend to meet them, have a discussion, ask questions about the project, and potentially take a trap with them, which could be put in a residential or community garden, on a farm, or into a wild fruit tree close to home.<\/p>\n