Today's history tidbit discusses one of the first times an invasive species was recognized and considered harmful. I've been reading Bill Bryson's book "At Home", in which he describes how it became popular in Victorian England to collect species of plants from around the world. In the 1850s, the English imported some vines from North America that contained (and were partially resistant to) an aphid. This aphid spread across the European continent and destroyed between 2/3rds and 9/10ths of the wine industry there. The europeans were forced to graft their vines onto American roots; and a debate has raged since about whether the wines have ever been the same. Only a few regions were resistant and still have the original roots. Wines from these regions are more expensive today.
The aphids were shipped prior to this time period, but one thing changed that allowed them to arrive alive: the steamship. And that is the history tidbit of the day.
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