Invasive Species

[Comfortably Numb]

This was the Norwegian way of using this invasive species of crab that was causing problems. If they had charged a little less they would likely have shifted a lot more.

Looks delicious and sounds much like American crayfish, an invasive UK species of course - not inexpensive either!

 

[EnolaGaia]

Florida's python eradication competition held last month resulted in over 600 people removing 223 Burmese pythons from the Everglades area.

What happens when you allow hundreds of snake hunters in the Everglades? You get a winner

Gov. Ron DeSantis ... announced that the 2021 Florida Python Challenge has a new king.

The 10-day event, from July 9-18, resulted in the removal of a record 223 invasive pythons from South Florida ...

More than 600 people participated in the risky competition to remove invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades while raising awareness about the species.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the two biggest snakes removed were more than 15 feet long, one clocking in at almost 16 feet.

“Kudos to participants of the 2021 Florida Python Challenge for removing 223 invasive Burmese pythons from the Everglades ecosystem!” wrote the FWC in a Facebook post.

FULL STORY (With Photos): https://www.yahoo.com/news/happens-allow-hundreds-snake-hunters-162000871.html

 

[EnolaGaia]

Great grey slugs are invading southern Poland ...

Polish national park sends out urgent warning after invasion of giant cannibal slugs

Grey slugs have invaded Poland, and are chasing down other species of slug at speeds of up to six inches per hour – and as an individual slug can have sex with itself they could spread very rapidly

Giant “alien” slugs that can grow up to eight inches in length have been spotted in a nature reserve in southern Poland.

Great grey slugs, which prey on other slugs as well as eating decaying plant matter and fungi, are native to western Europe but are considered an “alien” invasive species in Poland.

The monster slugs are common in the UK, first being spotted by naturalists in the 17th century. However as the climate heats up they are becoming increasingly widespread around the world. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/polish-national-park-sends-out-24847227

 

[Nosmo King]

Great grey slugs are invading southern Poland ...

FULL STORY: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/polish-national-park-sends-out-24847227

I cant see the problem here, the slugs eat other slugs, that are eating living plants, and decaying matter, they grow quite large, so make a bigger meal for species such as hedgehogs which feed on them, this can only be a win win situation surely?

 

[ramonmercado]

Mussels massacre native mollusks.

Mansur, an expert in bivalve mollusks, has been coming to this spot with students for more than 30 years to monitor local species. In the 1990s, the shore was covered with sedge and the lake bottom was strewn with the rounded shells of native mollusks.

Now, the shore is barren and the aquatic ecosystem unrecognizable. “I could fill a bucket with native species in a few minutes,” Mansur remembers. “Now, it can take me a whole morning to find half a dozen.”

Behind the transformation are tiny mollusks with arrow-shaped, caramel-colored shells, native to the Yangtze River in China: golden mussels (Limnoperna fortunei). When Mansur first noticed them on the shore in 1998, she recognized them at first sight based on warnings from colleagues who were already tracking them in Argentina. The species had arrived in the Americas a few years earlier in the ballast water of ships coming from Asia.

Months after Mansur first spotted them, the animals had taken over Lake Guaíba, plugging the pipes that supplied the city with water. Masses of dark, thumb-size adults mixed with golden pinkie nail–size newborns encrusted bedrock, boats, piers, and bridges, forming dense reeflike structures with more than 200,000 individuals per square meter. Without any local predator to control them, they choked and rotted the roots of plants along the shore, and even grew on top of other animals such as native mollusk species and crabs, suffocating them. “In 2 years, the golden mussel transformed the lake’s sandy beaches and vegetated margins into piles of dark and stinky shells,” Mansur recalls.

https://www.science.org/content/art...ting-south-american-rivers-amazon-may-be-next

 

[ramonmercado]

Oysters from the Pacific purge piskies from Cornwall.

A "terrifying" expansion of an invasive oyster is threatening marine ecosystems, conservationists say.

Pacific oysters were brought to the UK from the US and Canada and farmed during the 1960s and 1970s, but now they are damaging protected estuaries.

"The numbers we are seeing now are pretty terrifying," said marine expert Matt Slater.

More than 150,000 oysters have been recently culled in a bid to control the species in Devon and Cornwall. A government report said further action was needed to control them as they were "super-abundant" in some locations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-58739570

 

[Nosmo King]

Oysters from the Pacific purge piskies from Cornwall.

A "terrifying" expansion of an invasive oyster is threatening marine ecosystems, conservationists say.

Pacific oysters were brought to the UK from the US and Canada and farmed during the 1960s and 1970s, but now they are damaging protected estuaries.

"The numbers we are seeing now are pretty terrifying," said marine expert Matt Slater.

More than 150,000 oysters have been recently culled in a bid to control the species in Devon and Cornwall. A government report said further action was needed to control them as they were "super-abundant" in some locations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-58739570

By 'culled' do they mean eaten?

 

[maximus otter]

By 'culled' do they mean eaten?

A delicious entrée before a main course of (equally invasive) muntjac venison?

maximus otter

 

[maximus otter]

Feral Hogs Presence Growing In North Texas​

Feral hogs seem to have the run of North Texas and in search of nutrient rich grubs, it’s no surprise that they’ve behaving like pigs.

“They chew up the grass, they tear up the landscaping and again, they present a hazard with automobiles,” says Jack McFadden of Cedar Hill. “We’ve had at least the first reported accident of hitting three wild hogs here on Lake Ridge Parkway.”

With no natural predators, experts say their numbers are exploding throughout North Texas and that means trouble.

“Trinity River runs right through the heart– between South Dallas and North Tarrant County and that’s a hog highway,” explains Adam Henry, a USDA Urban Wildlife Damage Management Biologist. “We have anywhere from 2-6 million hogs, depending on which expert you talk to, throughout the state of Texas, so we’re not getting rid of hogs, anytime soon.”

The feral hogs are so despised in Texas, that they can be hunted 24/7 no license required. But. You can’t hunt with a firearm within city limits, so that leaves homeowners with fewer options: many are turning to trapping them, instead.

“We killed one here in our backyard that weighed close to 200 pounds,” says McFadden, who hunts with a bow. “They’re very smart. Once they see one captured, they move on.”

An avid hunter, McFadden has more options than most, but still knows the hogs have the upper hand.

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/11/05/feral-hogs-presence-growing/

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

They sound like Triffids, killing animals, and we're not told if the lost walkers were found alive.

Ten years ago Flor McCarthy realised he had a major problem on his farm in MacGillycuddy’s Reeks. Not only was land being taken over by rhododendron, but spring lambs let loose for the first time were nibbling the young leaves. Some were dying.

Hundreds of acres in the reeks have succumbed to the multi-stemmed shrub, which can live for 130 years and reach four metres in height in dense thickets.

“It’s becoming a massive problem. The Department [of Agriculture] don’t appreciate the scale of the problem,” says McCarthy, who manages his herd of sheep on lands spread across the Gap of Dunloe.

Rhododendron ponticum, the postcard-pretty purple-flowered plant loved by tourists, has spread widely from it now traditional 3,500 hectare base in Killarney National Park.

Today it is colonising hundreds of hectares high in the reeks, and as far south as Lauragh and west to Kells near the coast, choking out scores of native species.

Animals are also threatened, a conference in Killarney was told this month, while rescue services have been called on to locate disoriented tourists. Elsewhere, walkers in Tipperary have become lost.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ire...ng-problem-of-rhododendron-in-kerry-1.4727022

 

[ramonmercado]

Alderney folk are not sweet on sour figs.

An invasive plant is causing an "environmental emergency" in the Channel Islands, a wildlife charity has said.

Alderney Wildlife Trust said the sour fig was threatening sand dunes on the island. Between three and four metric tonnes of the plant was removed from the dunes at Saye on Saturday - the largest amount removed in a single day, it added. The plant prevents many other species, including wildflowers, from growing.

Sour fig, a non-native plant from South Africa, was first introduced to the island in the 1950s. The UK Government has made it illegal to plant or contribute to its growth. Alderney Wildlife Trust wants to see a similar rule brought in on the island.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-59276178

 

[ramonmercado]

Not just crowding out native plants but also increasing the risk of wildfires.

No one likes a cheater, especially one that prospers as easily as the grass Bromus tectorum does in the American West.

This invasive species is called cheatgrass because it dries out earlier than native plants, shortchanging wildlife and livestock in search of nutritious food.

Unfortunately for those animals and the crowded-out native plants, cheatgrass and several other invasive annual grasses now dominate one-fifth of the Great Basin, a wide swath of land that includes portions of Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. In 2020, these invasive grasses covered more than 77,000 square kilometers of Great Basin ecosystems, including higher elevation habitats that are now accessible to nonnative plants due to climate change, researchers report November 17 in Diversity and Distributions.

This invasion of exotic annual grasses is degrading one of North America’s most imperiled biomes: a vast sea of sagebrush shrubs, wildflowers and bunchgrasses where pronghorn and mule deer roam and where ranchers rely on healthy rangelands to raise cattle.

What’s more, these invasive grasses, which are highly flammable when dry, are also linked to more frequent and larger wildfires. In parts of Idaho’s Snake River Plain that are dominated by cheatgrass, for example, fires now occur every three to five years as opposed to the historical average of 60 to 110 years. From 2000 to 2009, 39 out of 50 of the largest fires in the Great Basin were associated with cheatgrass.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/invasive-grasses-spread-wildfire-plants

 

[ramonmercado]

Watch out for the invaders

A national campaign to arm the public with knowledge of invasive species has been launched after an increase of 183% from 1961 to 2010 in Ireland.

The Leave No Trace Ireland campaign has partnered with Waterways Ireland, the National Biodiversity Data Centre, Inland Fisheries Ireland, and the Marine Institute, as well as water sporting bodies throughout the Republic and the North, to warn about the impact of invasive species.

The impact has caused about €2.5bn in damage to the UK and Ireland annually, according to 2013 research, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage said as the campaign launched.
According to Invasive Species Ireland (ISI), creatures not native to ecosystems are the second greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide, after habitat destruction.
Invasive species can negatively impact on native species, transforming habitats and threatening whole ecosystems, causing serious problems to the environment and the economy, ISI said.
Since the 17th century, invasive species have contributed to nearly 40% of all animal extinctions for which the cause is known, according to the ISI.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40788582.html

 

[ramonmercado]

Bloody tourists coming here and bringing spiders, mites, snails and plants with them.

Tourists and returning residents may be contributing to the plague of invasive species in countries like Ireland, inadvertently bringing in harmful species in luggage and footwear, new research suggests.

A study examined the likes of insects, spiders, mites, snails, plants, and roundworms being reported at accommodation in New Zealand and researchers found what they called a "significant correlation".

Dr Andrew Robinson of the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis at the University of Melbourne and Mark McNeill of AgResearch New Zealand found that the number of nights spent in hotels and the detection of invasive species had a direct relationship.

The researchers said: "Between-country tourism is established as a facilitator of the spread of invasive alien species; however, little attention has been paid to the question of whether tourism contributes to the arrival and subsequent dispersal of exotic organisms within national borders. We suggest that this study provides conditional evidence that international tourism contributes to the introduction of exotic organism, and within-country movement of both international and domestic tourists aids the secondary dispersal of exotic organisms."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40807074.html

 

[maximus otter]

Bloody tourists coming here and bringing spiders, mites, snails and plants with them.

Tourists and returning residents may be contributing to the plague of invasive species in countries like Ireland, inadvertently bringing in harmful species in luggage and footwear, new research suggests.

A study examined the likes of insects, spiders, mites, snails, plants, and roundworms being reported at accommodation in New Zealand and researchers found what they called a "significant correlation".

Dr Andrew Robinson of the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis at the University of Melbourne and Mark McNeill of AgResearch New Zealand found that the number of nights spent in hotels and the detection of invasive species had a direct relationship.

The researchers said: "Between-country tourism is established as a facilitator of the spread of invasive alien species; however, little attention has been paid to the question of whether tourism contributes to the arrival and subsequent dispersal of exotic organisms within national borders. We suggest that this study provides conditional evidence that international tourism contributes to the introduction of exotic organism, and within-country movement of both international and domestic tourists aids the secondary dispersal of exotic organisms."

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40807074.html

You defo don’t want the kind of tourists who’d bring in roundworm. Euw!

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

You defo don’t want the kind of tourists who’d bring in roundworm. Euw!

At least they won't have covid.

 

[ramonmercado]

At least they won't have covid.

The roundworms might though.

 

[ramonmercado]

Will they be easier to catch seeing as they glow?

Fish genetically engineered to glow blue, green, or red under blacklight have been a big hit among aquarium lovers for years.

But the fluorescent pet is not restricted to glass displays anymore. The red- and green-glowing versions of the modified zebrafish have escaped fish farms in southeastern Brazil and are multiplying in creeks in the Atlantic Forest, a new study shows. It is a rare example of a transgenic animal accidentally becoming established in nature, and a concern for biologists, who worry the exotic fish could threaten the local fauna in one of the most biodiverse spots on the planet.

“This is serious,” says ecologist Jean Vitule at the Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba. Vitule, who was not part of the research, says the ecological impacts are unpredictable. He worries, for example, that the fluorescence-endowing genes from the escapees could end up being introduced in native fish with detrimental effects, perhaps making them more visible to predators. “It’s like a shot in the dark,” he says.

https://www.science.org/content/article/transgenic-glowing-fish-invades-brazilian-streams

 

[ramonmercado]

Recognising reality.

The Colombian government is planning to declare that a herd of hippopotamuses descended from animals imported illegally by drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s are an exotic invasive species.

People from the town of Puerto Triunfo have grown accustomed to living near the herd, and many are opposed to any measures to control the population.

Within weeks, the government plans to sign the declaration, meaning it must come up with a plan for how to control the hippo population, which has reached 130 and is projected hit 400 within eight years.

Among the strategies being debated are castration, sterilisation or even a cull.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40811817.html

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

Recognising reality.

The Colombian government is planning to declare that a herd of hippopotamuses descended from animals imported illegally by drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s are an exotic invasive species.

People from the town of Puerto Triunfo have grown accustomed to living near the herd, and many are opposed to any measures to control the population.

Within weeks, the government plans to sign the declaration, meaning it must come up with a plan for how to control the hippo population, which has reached 130 and is projected hit 400 within eight years.

Among the strategies being debated are castration, sterilisation or even a cull.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-40811817.html

Hippo tacos comes to mind.

 

[maximus otter]

People from the town of Puerto Triunfo have grown accustomed to living near the herd, and many are opposed to any measures to control the population.

Until the population reaches a critical level:

"[Africa] is filled with animals that are deadly to human beings, like lions, crocodiles, leopards, cape buffalo, rhinos and many many more. But what animal are the most human fatalities attributed to in Africa…the hippopotamus. Although they are mostly herbivorous, they are highly aggressive and are regarded as one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. They have been known to attack without provocation, even to the point of destroying entire vehicles. Around 2,900 people are killed every year by hippos.

Hippopotamuses are very aggressive animals; in fact, they are considered one of the most aggressive animals in the world."

https://greatamericanoutdoors.com/2...y-hippos-than-any-other-animal-and-heres-why/

maximus otter

 

[maximus otter]

Feral pigs are biological time bombs. Can California stem their ‘exponential’ damage? ​

SAN JOSE — Dana Page is no cold-blooded killer. She loves animals, sunshine and public lands.

But Page says “depredation” must be part of the toolkit to prevent wild pigs from ripping up Santa Clara County’s parks, tearing up lawns, fouling rivers and reservoirs, and killing native fauna such as red-legged frogs and California tiger salamanders.

“It’s hard to sit back and watch the destruction,” said Page, natural resource program coordinator for Santa Clara County Parks.

California’s feral pig population has become a monumental headache for government land managers, farmers, homeowners, conservation biologists and water district officials.

Feral pigs are like roving rototillers, using their snouts and hooves to unearth dirt-dwelling insect larvae and eat acorns, invertebrates, eggs, small mammals and plants. Their feeding patterns not only cause enormous ecological damage, but the end product — their poop — poses an even further threat. These generously sized mammals — adults range from 150 to 500 pounds — are known to spread more than 30 infectious diseases, 20 of which can be transmitted to humans, including leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis and tularemia.

In 2006, food safety officials pointed to feral swine as causing an E. coli outbreak in spinach from Salinas Valley. And water regulators and engineers are wary about the pigs contaminating reservoirs and rivers, as well.

Nationwide, wild hogs also inflicted harm more directly — by injuring, and in rare instances, killing people.

https://www.latimes.com/california/...s-ravage-california-wildlands-suburbs-hunting

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

Feral pigs are biological time bombs. Can California stem their ‘exponential’ damage? ​

SAN JOSE — Dana Page is no cold-blooded killer. She loves animals, sunshine and public lands.

But Page says “depredation” must be part of the toolkit to prevent wild pigs from ripping up Santa Clara County’s parks, tearing up lawns, fouling rivers and reservoirs, and killing native fauna such as red-legged frogs and California tiger salamanders.

“It’s hard to sit back and watch the destruction,” said Page, natural resource program coordinator for Santa Clara County Parks.

California’s feral pig population has become a monumental headache for government land managers, farmers, homeowners, conservation biologists and water district officials.

Feral pigs are like roving rototillers, using their snouts and hooves to unearth dirt-dwelling insect larvae and eat acorns, invertebrates, eggs, small mammals and plants. Their feeding patterns not only cause enormous ecological damage, but the end product — their poop — poses an even further threat. These generously sized mammals — adults range from 150 to 500 pounds — are known to spread more than 30 infectious diseases, 20 of which can be transmitted to humans, including leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis and tularemia.

In 2006, food safety officials pointed to feral swine as causing an E. coli outbreak in spinach from Salinas Valley. And water regulators and engineers are wary about the pigs contaminating reservoirs and rivers, as well.

Nationwide, wild hogs also inflicted harm more directly — by injuring, and in rare instances, killing people.

https://www.latimes.com/california/...s-ravage-california-wildlands-suburbs-hunting

maximus otter

They also attack doughnut shops.

 

[maximus otter]

They also attack doughnut shops.

maximus otter

 

[ramonmercado]

Disease bearing Alpine newt travels a long way to Tipperary.

A species of alpine newt which has been found in three counties in Ireland is not considered an invasive species, according to minister of state Malcolm Noonan.

Mr Noonan was responding to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke, who asked the minister if he will report on the development of a new national invasive species management plan, considering that the alpine newt has been found in Ireland.

Mr Noonan said that the development of a national invasive alien species management plan is a priority for his department and work is underway.
“The National Parks and Wildlife Service will report to me in the coming weeks with updates on progress in this matter,” he added.
Mr Noonan went on to say that the alpine newt is not listed as an invasive species in Ireland.
Threat
According to Rob Gandola, senior science officer at the Herpetological Society of Ireland (HSI), the threat that these newts carry is due to a disease called chytrid.

“Alpine newts are known to be vectors of two particularly nasty fungi (chytrid), which attack amphibians all over the world now. Native species can be susceptible to these fungi,” said Mr Gandola.

According to Mr Gandola, there are four separate groups of these newts found in Ireland, two in Down, one in Tipperary, and one in Offaly.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40847516.html

 

[Comfortably Numb]

Forwarded for information.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=7763239947027417&id=100000244663196

 

[ramonmercado]

A plague of coypus and other invasive species.

How did huge South American rodents come to be in Ireland?

In 2016, sightings began in the waterways of County Cork of what appeared to be a metre-long rat with large orange teeth. The coypu is a rodent native to South America, but has since spread to North America and parts of Europe. It is also one of several invasive species in Ireland seen as a threat to the local habitat.

Although there may be some excitement to see such exotic species in the Irish countryside, coypu are viewed as pests. The animals feed on aquatic vegetation, including rare and threatened species, undermine the banks of rivers through burrowing and can also feed on agricultural crops.

In 2016, Ireland's National Biodiversity Centre received a report of a suspected muskrat and a photograph of two animals which turned out to be coypus. Within a month, 10 of the animals had been captured from the Curraheen area just outside Cork city.

Colette O'Flynn, from the National Biodiversity Data Centre, said a year or two before the Cork sightings there had been an agricultural show in the area from which a coypu had gone missing, but which had not been reported.

"Either it was a pregnant female or more than one was released, we don't know," she said. "Following this, there was a one-month intensive trapping period and the general public was alerted and urged to report sightings."

Coypus were seen in other parts of the city and other parts of the county, while two animals were removed from counties Tipperary and Limerick.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-61645726