Julie Coetzee, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
Water lettuce forms dense mats on the water surface. This can reduce light penetration and oxygen levels in the water, negatively affecting all aspects of aquatic life.
Fishermen turning a boat on Lake Victoria in Kenya. The lake is covered by the aquatic plant water hyacinth.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images
In richer countries, the socio-economic impact of invasive species can be tackled through technology or adaptive behaviour. But this isn’t the case in poor countries.
The aquatic weed water hyacinth is causing major problems in Ethiopia’s Lake Tana.
Shutterstock
Alien species become invasive when their introduction to an ecosystem ends up causing ecological disruption in their new home. Cane toads, rabbits, water hyacinth, and zebra mussels are all infamous examples…
Australian freshwater mussels are under threat from habitat erosion.
Crawford River/Photo by MW Klunzinger
Freshwater mussels, like other freshwater animals, are disappearing at an alarming rate. They are invertebrates, and while invertebrates may account for 95-99% of animal biodiversity, they are scarcely…
Deputy Director of the Centre for Biological Control at Rhodes University and Biological Control and Freshwater Alien Invasive Species Management, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity