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Learn about invasive species that are a part of our environment.

Invasion rates have increased in the past 100 y irrespective of international conventions. What characterizes a successful invasion event? And how does genetic diversity translate into invasion success? Employing a whole-genome perspective using one of the most successful marine invasive species world-wide as a model, we resolve temporal invasion dynamics during independent invasion events in Eurasia. We reveal complex regionally independent invasion histories including cases of recurrent translocations, time-limited translocations, and stepping-stone range expansions with severe bottlenecks within the same species. Irrespective of these different invasion dynamics, which lead to contrasting patterns of genetic diversity, all nonindigenous populations are similarly successful. This illustrates that genetic diversity, per se, is not necessarily the driving force behind invasion success. Other factors such as propagule pressure and repeated introductions are an important contribution to facilitate successful invasions. This calls into question the dominant paradigm of the genetic paradox of invasions, i.e., the successful establishment of nonindigenous populations with low levels of genetic diversity.

An invaluable resource for environment, ecology, animal welfare and ethics students, researchers and policy makers, A Land Before Humans, a Land After Humans takes New Zealand as a case study and looks at the practical and ethical considerations of dealing with invasive species.

\"In this book, readers learn about the invasive fire ant\"-- Provided by publisher.

Sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose, humans have transported plants and animals to new habitats around the world. Arriving in ever-increasing numbers to American soil, recent invaders have competed with, preyed on, hybridized with, and carried diseases to native species, transforming our ecosystems and creating anxiety among environmentalists and the general public. But is American anxiety over this crisis of ecological identity a recent phenomenon? Charting shifting attitudes to alien species since the 1850s, Peter Coates brings to light the rich cultural and historical aspects of this story by situating the history of immigrant flora and fauna within the wider context of human immigration. Through an illuminating series of particular invasions, including the English sparrow and the eucalyptus tree, what he finds is that we have always perceived plants and animals in relation to ourselves and the polities to which we belong. Setting the saga of human relations with the environment in the broad context of scientific, social, and cultural history, this thought-provoking book demonstrates how profoundly notions of nationality and debates over race and immigration have shaped American understandings of the natural world.

The Monitor Lizard is large; adults can grow up to 7 feet. This book examines its habits, and the dangers it presents to the habitats that it has invaded, particularly Florida.

In aquatic systems, biological invasions can result in adverse ecological effects. Management techniques available for non-native fish removal programs (including eradication and population size control) vary widely, but include chemicals, harvest regimes, physical removal, or biological control. For management agencies, deciding on what non-native fish removal program to use has been challenging because there is little reliable information about the relative effectiveness of these measures in controlling or eradicating non-native fish. We conducted a systematic review, including a critical appraisal of study validity, to assess the effectiveness of different non-native fish removal methods and to identify the factors that influence the overall success rate of each type of method. We found 95 relevant studies, generating 158 data sets. The evidence base was dominated by poorly documented studies with inadequate experimental designs (76% of removal projects). When the management goal was non-native fish eradication, chemical treatments were relatively successful (antimycin 89%; rotenone 75%) compared with other interventions. Electrofishing and passive removal measure studies indicated successful eradication was possible (58% each) but required intensive effort and multiple treatments over a number of years. Of these studies with sufficient information, electrofishing had the highest success for population size control (56% of data sets). Overall, inadequate data quality and completeness severely limited our ability to make strong conclusions about the relationships between non-native fish abundance and different methods of eradication and population control and the factors influencing the overall success rate of each method. Our review highlights that there is considerable scope for improving our evaluations of non-native fish removal methods. It is recommended that programs should have explicitly stated objectives, better data reporting, and study designs that (when possible and appropriate) incorporate replicated and controlled investigations with rigorous, long-term quantitative monitoring. Future research on the effectiveness of non-native fish removal methods should focus on: (i) the efficacy of existing or potentially new removal measures in larger, more complex environments; (ii) a broader range of removal measures in general; and (iii) phenotypic characteristics of individual fish within a population that fail to be eradicated or controlled. Dans les systèmes aquatiques, les invasions biologiques peuvent entraîner des effets écologiques défavorables. Les techniques de gestion disponibles pour les programmes de retrait de poissons non indigènes (incluant l’éradication et le contrôle de taille de population) varient énormément, mais incluent les produits chimiques, les régimes de pêche, le retrait physique ou le contrôle biologique. Pour les agences de gestion, le choix du programme de retrait de poissons non indigènes à utiliser est compliqué parce qu’il y a peu d’informations fiables sur l’efficacité relative de ces mesures au niveau du contrôle ou de l’éradication du poisson non indigène. Nous avons fait une revue systématique, y compris une évaluation critique de validité des conclusions d’étude, afin d’évaluer l’efficacité des différentes méthodes de retrait de poissons non indigènes et d’établir les facteurs qui influent sur le taux de réussite global de chaque type de méthodes. Nous avons trouvé 95 études pertinentes, donnant 158 ensembles de données. L’assise factuelle comprenait une prépondérance d’études mal documentées avec des conceptions expérimentales inadéquates (76 % de projets de retrait). Quand le but de gestion était l’éradication de poissons non indigènes, les traitements chimiques avaient une réussite relativement bonne (antimycine 89 %; roténone 75 %) comparativement à d’autres interventions. Les études de mesure de pêche à l’électricité et de retrait passif ont indiqué que l’éradication réussie était possible (58 % chacun) mais elle exigeait un effort intense et des traitements multiples au cours d’un certain nombre d’années. De ces études ayant des informations suffisantes, la pêche à l’électricité avait le plus haut taux de succès en matière de contrôle de taille de population (56 % des ensembles de données). En général, la qualité inadéquate et l’aspect incomplet des données ont sévèrement limité notre capacité de tirer des conclusions probantes des relations entre l’abondance de poissons non indigènes et les différentes méthodes d’éradication et de régulation des populations et les facteurs influant sur le taux de réussite global de chaque méthode. Les points culminants de notre revue mettent en lumière qu’il y a une marge considérable pour améliorer nos évaluations de méthodes de retrait de poissons non indigènes. On recommande que les programmes aient des objectifs explicites clairement formulés, une meilleure communication des données et des modèles d’étude qui (lorsque possible et approprié) incorporent des examens reproduits et contrôlés au moyen de surveillance quantitative rigoureuse à long terme. La recherche future sur l’efficacité des méthodes de retrait de poissons non indigènes devrait être centrée sur : (i) l’efficacité des mesures de retrait existantes ou potentiellement nouvelles dans des environnements plus grands, plus complexes; (ii) une gamme plus large de mesures de retrait en général et (iii) les caractéristiques phénotypiques de poisson individuel dans une population qui échappe à la suppression ou au contrôle.

Stopping invasive species early, before they are introduced or before they have a chance to spread, is essential for effective invasive species management. With new plants introduced constantly through global trade and shifting their ranges due to climate change, proactive action to prevent invasions is more important than ever. But, before we can prevent invasions through policy, monitoring, and management, we need to know the identity of which species are invasive. Existing lists of invasive plants vary across political and jurisdictional boundaries, often rely on inconsistent knowledge of local experts, and may conflate nonnative with invasive. Here, we reviewed papers published from 1959 to 2020 to create a single consistently derived list of known invasive plants. We searched theWeb of Science core collection for “articles” containing the keywords “invasi*” and “plant” within the categories “Ecology,” “Environmental Sciences,” “Biodiversity Conservation,” and “Plant Sciences.” We also reviewed papers cited in reviews of invasive plants (see Metadata S1, Class II, Section B).We read titles and abstracts to identify papers that focused on nonnative and invasive vascular plants and included in the database any nonnative plant taxon either explicitly termed invasive in the paper or implicitly defined as invasive through a description of abundance, spread and/or impact. For 2017–2020, we included only papers that described multiple invasive plants, which are much more likely to uncover novel taxa. For each paper, we retained the reported invasive taxon name, text defining invasiveness, bibliographic information, and the country or countries in the invaded range where the study took place. We used Catalogue of Life and the Plant Taxonomic Name Resolution Source to resolve the taxonomy of the invasive taxa and compiled a list of unique invasive plants described in one or more scientific papers. We extracted data from 5,893 papers and identified 3,008 unique taxa, including 2,842 species, 96 subspecies, 29 varieties, and 41 hybrids. Of these, 2,981 taxa were resolved, while 27 were unresolved. 42% of the total unique taxa were studied once in the database. This database provides a consistent, global assessment of nonnative, invasive plant taxa. We release these data into the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero license waiver (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/). Individuals who use these data for publication may cite this data paper.