Invasive species News

The European fire ant is an unwanted invasive species in Eastern North America. It has taken over back yards and is capable of a very nasty bite. This ant is a seed disperser, and research has shown they could wreck havoc on our native ecosystems.

Antarctica is the world's last great wilderness, a continent covering 5.4 million square miles, or about twice the size of Australia, Antarctica belongs to no one nation, and there is no government, other than an international agreement.

Invasive species control costs the economy of Ontario tens of millions of dollars annually. The impact these foreign invaders make on the ecology and the environment is often irreparable, if not irreversible. Ontario is doing something about the problem.

Asian carp were imported to the United States in the 1970's to control algae in aquaculture ponds. But much like the mongoose that was imported to the Hawaii islands to control rats, the carp proliferated and are now an invasive, nuisance species.

Sydney - The Australian Irukandji jellyfish is the most venomous creature on Earth. Its appearance in places as far apart as Cape Town and Florida isn’t good news . Unlike other jellyfish, this species is a real environmental hazard.

An Oregon man was fishing in Maryland's Potomac River waters and caught a huge blue catfish, its size was a record-setter in the state.

The nasty snakehead fish, or Frankenfish, will soon be against the law to bring into the Canadian province of British Columbia. The plan to ban the fishes import comes on the heels of the removal of one from a Burnaby lagoon.

Geneva - A new report on honey bee and pollinator decline indicates a “sixth major extinction” of biological diversity is currently underway, caused by habitat loss, pollution, pest invasion, and disease, leading to ecosystem havoc vital to human livelihood.

New Orleans - Can fashion fur ever be guilt free? Apparently yes, but only if you are wearing swamp rat. A project in Louisiana is turning the invasive species nutria into high fashion.

Pittsburgh - A University of Arkansas researcher has found genetically modified canola growing wild in Dakota -- in addition, she found two different GM varieties had interbred to produce a completely new GM canola.

Whether plants, animals, or fungi, invasive alien species appear to be on some kind of massive move. In Europe alone some 11,000 alien invasive species have been identified. The question is why, and why now?

An algae that forms a gobby, gooey mess is acting like the central feature of the 1950s horror flick “The Blob,” slowly spreading around the world, choking the life out of many pristine waterways. Experts say there is no way to control or eradicate it

A study published in the March 2009 issue of BioScience concludes that nonindigenous species pose a threat to native salmonids.

For ants, supercolonies are a huge evolutionary step. These are virtually immortal colonies, ant “civilizations”. These colonies contain multiple queens, and millions of workers. They also destroy native ant species, and trash ecologies.

The New Zealand mud snail currently inhabits four of the five Great Lakes and is now spreading into rivers and tributaries,

French scientists have done a study to identify the invaders. The numbers are big, and getting bigger. On average, 19 new species of invertebrate enter Europe every year. In the middle of the 20th century, it was 10 a year.

In the past 18 months, more than 800 swamphens have been killed in an effort to control their numbers in the Everglades. The numbers of swamphens are competing heavily with the Everglades own indigenous birds as well as ruining the natural habitat.