Hi Mark,
invasive alien species are an increasing problem globally. Species that
were introduced deliberately or accidentally into new areas now have
more chances to adopt and survive also because of the global climate
change. Not all species are as bad, some are endangered, but some are
nasty indeed causing damage to natural ecosystems, human health or
economies. For example there are around 10 000 species like this in
Europe that counts to 45 000 distinct introduction events. If you are
interested in this topic you can visit www.europe-aliens.org and take a
look at the poster presented in the conference "Biological invasions in
Europe and the DAISIE initiative - current threats and future
perspectives" at
http://ekoinf.net/daisie/poster_easd_overview.ppt, ~3 Mb.
Actually this is not a big OT, because Revolution was used extensively
and intensively to create the European Alien Species Database and data
exploration tools to be released for public access in 2009 (database is
still being polished, besides scientists wanted to make all their
relevant publications before the database content is completely
exposed). I will be taking that poster to at least 3 other conferences,
so Revolution will get its exposure there too :-).
Some facts on the best known aliens... Freshwater bivalve mollusk
Dreisenna polymorpha caused huge losses in the USA by clogging water
intake/release pipes and other submerged structures in Great Lakes. A
tiny crustacean Cercopagis pengoi upon its arrival to the Baltic sea
caused what was called "nets plaque" nearly destroying marine coastal
fishery business in a few European countries at the turn of XX / XXI
centuries. Xilophagous mollusk Teredo navalis destroyed nearly all
wooden constructions in San Francisco bay in the beginning of XX century
causing loses as high as 200 000 000 dollars in just one year. And very
recently documented new invader Mnemiopsis leyidyi is a major threat to
fish resources in the Baltic sea, because it preys upon juvenile fish
and has no natural enemies. This really beautiful creature already
caused collapse of fisheries when it invaded the Black sea some time ago.
More facts (from other projects):
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Teredo_navalis.pdf
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/cercopagis_pengoi.pdf
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Craspedacusta_sowerbyi.pdf
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Anguilicola_crassus.pdf
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Marenzelleria_neglecta.pdf
http://www.nobanis.org/files/factsheets/Heracleum%20sosnowskyi.pdf
and some videos (not mine):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVWpdVhY4Bs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mi5NPbKLcQ&feature=related
All the best!
Viktoras
Mark Wieder wrote:
No on-topic content, but it's Friday on my planet and I just had to share
this gem:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/21/MNABV5PP3.DTL
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