Invasive species seem to have (forgive me) invaded the public consciousness lately.  Asian carp are poised to invade the Great Lakes, while local officials trumpet their successful battle against the Asian long-horned beetle in Boston.  My tendency to skepticism tempers my response to such news, good or bad; I’m reluctant to believe that the sky is falling, and in cases where it really is, I’m dubious that humans can do much about it.  I also try to remain open to being wrong, so I was intrigued when my friend Jenn Forman-Orth, an invasive plant ecologist at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, invited me to a “biocontrol release” aimed at combatting an invasive plant called mile-a-minute weed.  Jenn, along with Ale Echandi of the…