I assume that probably for every successful introduction, you could find someone who liked something about it and someone who didn't like anything about it. I'm generally against introductions in part because of the uncertainty--we have shown over and over that we are poor predictors of the impacts of introductions. I study introduced Italian wall lizards in suburban Long Island. this species has lived in urban environments in Italy for thousands of years. there are no native lizards on Long Island, and they eat mostly introduced invertebrates. In their favor, they provide great model species for behavioral studies in an environment which has no other easily observable herps or mammals. I have not helped anyone else spread these lizards, but they are dispersing on their own quite well. Species homogenization continues....
Dr. Russell Burke Department of Biology 114 Hofstra University Hempstead, NY 11549 voice: (516) 463-5521 fax: 516-463-5112 http://www.people.hofstra.edu/faculty/russell_l_burke/
