The pet trade has spurred a wave of bird imports, leading to escapes or even deliberate releases of exotic species into the wild. New research reveals the threat they now pose to native birds.
Carp can make riverbeds look like golf balls – denuded and dimpled, devoid of any habitat. Releasing carp herpes virus is a controversial proposition, so let’s weigh up the risks and benefits.
Lizards that do or do not share space with invasive fire ants will react differently to this scenario.
Tracy Langkilde and Travis Robbins
The ways eastern fence lizards have changed in response to red imported fire ants demonstrate how species can adapt to survive the presence of invasive predators.
Invasive rats can fundamentally alter the functioning of surrounding marine ecosystems.
Bluerain/Shutterstock
Rats are disrupting the flow of nutrients towards the sea on many tropical islands – this has consequences for fish behaviour and the wider ecosystem.
While the European spongy moth outbreak reached a dramatic peak in parts of Canada last year, these caterpillars have completely vanished this year.
(Washington State Department of Agriculture/flickr)
38 mammals have been driven to extinction since colonisation, and many more are close to joining them. We have the solutions at hand, but warnings continue to be met with mediocre responses.
Ballast water discharge from transoceanic ships introduces invasive species to the Great Lakes.
(Shutterstock)
Indonesia’s foot-and-mouth outbreak shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s been decades in the making – just the latest consequence of biosecurity shortcomings in the region.
The round goby is an invasive fish that has become established in the St. Lawrence River over the past two decades, following its introduction into the Great Lakes.
(Cristina Charette)
Wetlands can help limit the spread of the voracious round goby, an invasive species that has infiltrated the Great Lakes and has become widespread in the St. Lawrence River.
A boat propeller encrusted with zebra mussels.
NPS/Flickr
Zebra and quagga mussels entered the Great Lakes in large ships’ ballast water. Now, local boaters and anglers are spreading them into the southern and western US.
Trees were already known for cooling and cleaning the air of cities. A Europe-wide, participative science project shows how much their density matters for urban biodiversity.
Pine martens are returning to Irish and British woodlands.
Joshua P Twining
Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University