By Eli Yudin Published: November 13th, 2024

Citizen scientists step up to stop the spread of invasive mosquitoes, giant hornets, kudzu and other exotic species.

For the first time in roughly 2 million years, melting Arctic sea ice is connecting the north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans. The newly opened […]

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Fat, toxic and nocturnal, cane toads (Rhinella marina) are abundant today in Hawaii, even though they are South American natives. Released on the Hawaiian Islands […]

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The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md., and the Alaska Sea Grant Program of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, were recently identified as the […]

The post Smithsonian scientists to help identify and eradicate invasive species in Alaskan waters appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center has created NEMESIS--National Estuarine and Marine Exotic Species Information System--an online public database that provides key information about the non-native marine species throughout the United States.

The post New invasive species database allows public to ID marine invaders with a home computer appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For many Californians, last year’s wet winter triggered a case of whiplash. After five years of drought, rain from October 2016 to February 2017 broke […]

The post In San Francisco, one wet winter can switch up Bay’s invasive species appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Assessing the potential of new environmental management tools often brings an ???innovation dilemma???: is it better to stick with what is known to work, or to implement new measures that are potentially more effective, but also more uncertain? Researchers have proposed an approach to deal with these dilemmas, and applied it to the case study of an invasive species programme in the US.

Assessing the potential of new environmental management tools often brings an ‘innovation dilemma’: is it better to stick with what is known to work, or to implement new measures that are potentially more effective, but also more uncertain? Researchers have proposed an approach to deal with these dilemmas, and applied it to the case study of an invasive species programme in the US.

The joint threat posed by climate change and invasive alien species can have different effects on endangered native species, new research suggests. This European study predicts that the invasive zebra mussel may benefit from climate change, negatively affecting native mussel populations; but both invasive and native crayfish could suffer declines.

Areas of mariculture — where marine organisms are cultivated for food — have been identified as important source areas for the dispersal of invasive alien species (IAS) via artificial floating litter. In order to identify IAS at high risk of dispersal via this method, researchers have analysed fouled anthropogenic litter sampled on beaches in two important European mariculture areas. Overall, the team detected eight aquaculture-related IAS attached to anthropogenic litter. All of these species are well adapted to rafting on artificial surfaces and have high potential to disperse in this way, suggesting that they are suitable candidates for closer monitoring and policy action in the future.

Researchers have developed a new scientific method to estimate the time lag between the introduction of an alien species and its extensive spread. For New Zealand weed species, the study estimated that the average lag was around 20-30 years. Although this may seem to be a long time, seemingly rare but fast-spreading species could become tomorrow's harmful weeds.

Better monitoring is needed to safeguard the Antarctic against threats posed by invasive alien species, according to a new study. The authors developed ‘the Antarctic Biological Invasions Indicator’ (ABII) to help generate data for tracking trends in alien invasions and the measures taken to prevent them.

Monitoring of at-risk sites is important for preventing the arrival and spread of invasive species. However, resources are often insufficient to achieve the level of risk reduction desired by authorities. This study presents a novel framework, based on the ‘acceptable level of risk’ construct, to align needs to reduce risk with available resources.

Google's online street views could help scientists track and fight invasive species over the Internet.

Is it time to throw in the towel on the fight against these invasive foes? Here are some non-native species that humans just can't seem to beat.

The Delaware Invasive Species Council (DISC), a non-profit organization dedicated to limiting the introduction and spread of non-native and invasive plant and animal species, has adopted an election year theme for its annual meeting and conference on Oct. 19 at the Delaware Agricultural Museum in Dover (866 N. DuPont Highway, Dover, DE 19901). This year's conference agenda will explore the ways that land and natural resource managers, conservationists, and others that want their voices heard are keeping up with the fight on invasive species by voting them out! Registration opens at 8:30 am and the conference will kick off at 9:00 am. Lunch and an annual membership are included in the registration fee of $40.00.

Few things make as much sense as eating a harmful species, while sparing the threatened ones.

These organisms are destroying ecosystems across the globe, costing humans billions of dollars in damages.

Non-native species like zebra mussels make national news, but the dangerous plant variable milfoil is rarely discussed outside of lake communities.

Commonly thought to be a byproduct of economic distress, a new report suggest that dollar stores are a cause of it.

Unconventional sushi made out of Japanese knotweed, Asian carp and lionfish are the draw here.