Halloween Special: Boll Weevils with Paul Csomo

Boll weevils are an agricultural pest that feeds primarily on cotton. After their arrival in the 1890s, they caused devastation across the South-Eastern United States, starting a battle that’s raged for more than 130 years. This episode, Paul Csomo of the award-winning Varmints! podcast joins us to discuss these creatures, their adaptions, and their agricultural history. Tune in to learn: How many types of weevils are in the world How boll weevils shaped agriculture in the South-Eastern United States How scientists, farmers, and government agencies united to eradicate the boll weevil threat How boll weevils have slipped into pop culture today If you would like to find transcripts for this episode or sign up for our newsletter, please visit our website: http://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/ Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don’t forget to subscribe. If you would like to reach out to Paul, you can find him here: varmintspodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @varmintspodcast Resources CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b66F129ED-AA32-EC11-8139-005056A7AFA5%7d  Varmints! Podcast: https://varmints.podbean.com/ Matt Shipman, NC State, 2017: The Boll Weevil War, or How Farmers and Scientists Saved Cotton in the South: https://news.ncsu.edu/2017/05/boll-weevil-war-2017/ Boll Weevil by The Presidents of the United States of America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uBmii5es7Q Boll Weevil Monument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_Weevil_Monument Boll Weevil Economic Impact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boll_weevil#Impact Encyclopedia Entry for Boll Weevil: https://www.britannica.com/animal/boll-weevil National Cotton Council of America: https://www.cotton.org/tech/pest/bollweevil/eradication4.cfm The Great Migration: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration#:~:text=The%20Great%20Migration%20was%20the,from%20about%201916%20to%201970 The Boll Weevil in Missouri: https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g4255 Boll Weevil Eradication: https://www.cotton.org/tech/pest/bollweevil/eradication2.cfm Boll Weevil general info: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anthonomus_grandis/ Field, Lab, Earth is copyrighted to the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.