Coffee leaf rust has been challenging coffee production in the Americas for decades, but researchers at the University of Michigan may have found a way to control the costly pest. The solution: Asian tramp snails. These gastropods are able to consume large quantities of coffee rust before the disease affects the plant. In one day, a single snail can ingest 30 percent of a leaf’s fungus. While these snails are usually omnivorous crop pests, munching on citrus, legumes, cabbage, and leafy greens, the researchers may have found a way to keep their diets focused on the coffee rust. National Geographic has the story.
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