ecoinvasions - Network

Ignoring the international scientific consensus that nonnative spp generally pose serious ecological & socioeconomic threats (2023...

Ignoring the international scientific consensus that nonnative spp generally pose serious ecological & socioeconomic threats (2023 #IPBES report), another opinion article tries to dismiss an entire field of science by accusing conservation scientists of bias.

We can only speculate on what motivates such articles (eg. an animal rights ideology that places less value on biodiversity than on individuals), but it has nothing to do with scientific evidence.

Read our reply: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379897335_Systematic_and_persistent_bias_against_invasion_science_Framing_conservation_scientists

A new study (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064423000214) found that the global economic impact of biological...

A new study (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064423000214) found that the global economic impact of biological invasions is equivalent in magnitude to that of natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods and storms.

The costs of biological invasions have increased more rapidly than those of natural disasters over the past 4 decades.

Societies need to build a culture of safety & resilience against the threat of #BiologicalInvasions - just as we have done for natural hazards.
#InvasiveSpecies #AlienSpecies

Previously, my colleagues & I argued that biological invasions should be treated with the same precautionary approach as applied to...

Previously, my colleagues & I argued that biological invasions should be treated with the same precautionary approach as applied to natural disasters: (http://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Ricciardi_etal_BioScience2011.pdf). Society invests in infrastructure & emergency response plans for extreme natural hazards (eg. earthquakes) that are rare & may never happen, because their occurrence is unacceptable. Invasions should be treated similarly.

#BOTD (March 29, 1900) Charles Elton: One of the most influential ecologists of the 20th century & the father of animal #ecology, who...

#BOTD (March 29, 1900) Charles Elton: One of the most influential ecologists of the 20th century & the father of animal #ecology, who turned natural history into a science.

Elton founded the Journal of Animal Ecology, defined fundamental concepts and proposed hypotheses (niche, population cycles, diversity-stability, enemy release, etc) that continue to fuel research. Several decades ago, he recognized #BiologicalInvasions as a form of global change. And (like Hutchinson) he never had a PhD!

Darwin was fascinated by animal-assisted dispersal of invertebrates. Since his time, there have been numerous documented examples of the...

Darwin was fascinated by animal-assisted dispersal of invertebrates. Since his time, there have been numerous documented examples of the phenomenon. But the movement of (nonlarval) bivalves on freshwater fish was never observed in the field -- until now.

Of course, for a species with separate sexes like the zebra mussel, the introduction of many 'fish-hiking' mussels would likely be required to start a population.

https://www.science.org/content/article/one-north-america-s-most-dangerous-invasive-species-hitchhiking-fish

A YOY zebra mussel byssally attached to a fish (lake chub) collected in a lake where mussels are abundant on Eurasian milfoil.This novel...

A YOY zebra mussel byssally attached to a fish (lake chub) collected in a lake where mussels are abundant on Eurasian milfoil.

This novel phoretic interaction could facilitate within-basin spread of zebra mussels via fish migration & their overland transport by anglers moving baitfish. To our knowledge, this is the first recorded field observation of phoresis between a non-larval freshwater bivalve & a fish.

Read the article here: https://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Ricciardi&Hill2023.pdf

Photo by Dr. Jaclyn Hill (DFO).

A gene-editing company wants to resurrect the Dodo & reintroduce it to Mauritius. The company is also working on a...

A gene-editing company wants to resurrect the Dodo & reintroduce it to Mauritius. The company is also working on a "next-generation" mammoth (from mammoth & elephant DNA) with the goal of introducing it to help restore the Arctic ecosystem.

Releasing facsimiles into the wild is equivalent to introducing a novel consumer based on unreliable risk assessment, given the unknown behavioural traits these animals would possess. Hardly seems advisable for ecosystem restoration.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/31/gene-editing-company-hopes-to-bring-dodo-back-to-life

For years, researchers have warned about the risks of zoonotic spillover events (like this one) occurring in farms & wet markets. It...

For years, researchers have warned about the risks of zoonotic spillover events (like this one) occurring in farms & wet markets. It has become textbook science, and I've talked about it in courses I teach.

Quote: "H5N1 appears to have spread through a densely packed mammalian population and gained at least one mutation that favors mammal-to-mammal spread."

https://www.science.org/content/article/incredibly-concerning-bird-flu-outbreak-spanish-mink-farm-triggers-pandemic-fears

Even after three years of a devastating pandemic, there persist certain animal farming practices in various parts of the world, including...

Even after three years of a devastating pandemic, there persist certain animal farming practices in various parts of the world, including Canada, that pose a clear and present danger of viral spillover to people.

Check out this opinion article:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/01/12/opinion/risk-pandemics-increasing

Invasive rats are changing fish behaviour on coral reefs – new study:...

Invasive rats are changing fish behaviour on coral reefs – new study: https://theconversation.com/invasive-rats-are-changing-fish-behaviour-on-coral-reefs-new-study-197215

Consider the potentially enormous number & diversity of microscopic organisms that could be transported to this region by 100 000...

Consider the potentially enormous number & diversity of microscopic organisms that could be transported to this region by 100 000 tourists annually. The ice-free peninsula, sub-Antarctic islands and coastal waters have already been invaded by as many as ~200 nonnative species. Salmonella enterica, almost certainly introduced by humans, is now found infecting Antarctic seabirds and seals. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/environment/more-than-100-000-tourists-will-head-to-antarctica-this-summer-should-we-worry-about-damage-to-the-ice-and-its-ecosystems--86956

In a 2019 paper led by mothyblackburn@ecoevo.social, we used the IUCN Red List database to show that although native species can sometimes...

In a 2019 paper led by
mothyblackburn@ecoevo.social, we used the IUCN Red List database to show that although native species can sometimes become superabundant & damage biodiversity, nonnative (alien) species are far more likely to cause global extinctions. Nonnative species are listed as the sole or contributing cause of 33% of animal extinctions & 26% of plant extinctions. In contrast, natives are implicated in <3% of animal extinctions & 5% of plant extinctions. Read: https://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Blackburn_etal2019.pdf

Lorenzo Camerano (1880. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 15: 393–414) is credited with the first foodweb diagram (shown below,...

Lorenzo Camerano (1880. Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 15: 393–414) is credited with the first foodweb diagram (shown below, accompanied by a simplified version created by P. Olivier: https://www.marmaed.uio.no/outreach/blog/building-food-webs.html). Of course, even prior to the 19th century, others have commented on who-eats-who relations (going back to hunting scenes in 40,000 yr-old cave drawings). [3/3]

Dr. Kathleen Carpenter's 1925 PhD thesis contained an early diagram of a freshwater food web which, unlike previous diagrams, depicted...

Dr. Kathleen Carpenter's 1925 PhD thesis contained an early diagram of a freshwater food web which, unlike previous diagrams, depicted trophic levels (https://euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/anh.2019.0566). Note this was 2 years before Charles Elton popularized the concept of food chains in his monograph Animal Ecology (1927). ...2/n

Who published the first freshwater food web? American ecologist Victor Shelford may have done so (see below) in his 1913 book "Animal...

Who published the first freshwater food web? American ecologist Victor Shelford may have done so (see below) in his 1913 book "Animal communities in temperate America as illustrated in the Chicago region", a book that inspired Charles Elton, who cited it in Animal Ecology. ...1/n

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/beavers-are-reshaping-the-arctic-tundra-heres-why-scientists-are-concerned-180979325/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/beavers-are-reshaping-the-arctic-tundra-heres-why-scientists-are-concerned-180979325/

The influence of an invading ecosystem engineer: beaver activity affects surface water dynamics in Arctic tundra. The northern edge of the...

The influence of an invading ecosystem engineer: beaver activity affects surface water dynamics in Arctic tundra.
The northern edge of the beaver’s range was historically limited by the boreal forest, but climate warming has allowed them to invade tundra habitat.

Beaver ponds absorb more heat than snow/icy soil, thus accelerating the loss of permafrost (& the release of greenhouse gases trapped within the soil). These landscape changes can be observed from space. https://news.yahoo.com/photos-space-show-11-000-221546256.html

Once crystal-clear streams in Alaska are now turning orange.One hypothesis to explain this is that climate-driven permafrost melting is...

Once crystal-clear streams in Alaska are now turning orange.

One hypothesis to explain this is that climate-driven permafrost melting is releasing iron-rich compounds into the soil; so when sediment gets flushed into streams, it makes the water rusty-orange and more acidic through oxidation.

https://www.wired.com/story/alaskas-arctic-waterways-are-turning-a-foreboding-orange/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

7/ Under human influence, however, invasions (like extinctions & climate change) are occurring far more rapidly, over greater spatial...

7/ Under human influence, however, invasions (like extinctions & climate change) are occurring far more rapidly, over greater spatial scales, and involve greater numbers of organisms than at any time in the history of life. I consider the current global mass invasion event to be an unprecedented form of global change (https://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Ricciardi_ConBio2007.pdf).

6/ To me, 'nonnative' is all about the evolutionary context of a species and thus has nothing to do with whether humans moved it....

6/ To me, 'nonnative' is all about the evolutionary context of a species and thus has nothing to do with whether humans moved it. For this reason, I see invasions (like extinctions and climate change) as having occurred throughout the history of life. For example, the Great American Biotic Interchange was a mass invasion event; thus, those species that became established in their new biogeographic realms were nonnative (but some eventually evolved new lineages that should be considered native).