Summary
Spotted lanternflies arrived far from home and are now swarming trees and crops where they don't belong. Deep Look shows how this striking invader spreads and why it's such a problem for the plants and people in its new habitat.
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All ages
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Talk about it
Spotted lanternflies hitchhiked to new places where nothing keeps them in check. They feed on many plants and multiply fast, harming trees and crops -- an example of how a habitat change (a new invader) affects the whole community.
- Why are spotted lanternflies such a big problem in new places?
- How does an invasive insect change its new habitat?
- What could people do to slow the spread of an invader?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: invasive, habitat, spread, native.
Try it: List one way a new bug could hitch a ride to a new place. Write how an invader changes the habitat when it arrives.