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Read more about the article Volcanic lava flow fuels tree invasion on La Réunion
Casuarina equisetifolia seedling emerging from a new lava substrate of the Piton de la Fournaise volcano.
2014 / News

Volcanic lava flow fuels tree invasion on La Réunion

The volcanic island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean is the least disrupted of the biodiversity-rich islands of the Mascarene archipelago, with around 30% of the native vegetation still intact. She-oak or ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia), a fast-growing tree native to Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, the Philippines, Polynesia, and Southeast Asia, was introduced to La Réunion in 1738, mainly for use as firewood.

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20 May 2014
Read more about the article Defining the impact of alien species
The sImpact working group in Leipzig, Germany, in July 2013
2014 / News

Defining the impact of alien species

All alien species cause changes to the ecosystems to which they are introduced. Such impacts are of many types - some are dramatic and obvious and can easily be classified as desirable or undesirable. However, for the vast majority of alien species, no information on impact is available. This greatly complicates the task of objectively assigning priority to management.

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13 May 2014
Read more about the article Multi-scale predictive maps can help us manage tree invaders
Haylee Kaplan collecting soil core samples along a plantation road
2014 / News

Multi-scale predictive maps can help us manage tree invaders

Eradication of invasive alien plants requires that all populations of the plants have been found and every plant removed. This entails intensive searching, which often comes at a great expense. Maps that show where species are likely to occur are useful for guiding searches, and may reduce the costs and increase the success of eradication operations. Such maps are based on models that explore the links between plant distributions and climatic factors in order to predict where the plants might occur.

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6 May 2014
Read more about the article Global initiative guide regulations to reduce alien species in Antarctica
After undergoing biosecurity checks, cruise ship passengers wait to go ashore on South Georgia. (Photo credit: Martin Collins)
2014 / News

Global initiative guide regulations to reduce alien species in Antarctica

Recently published C·I·B research conducted in association with the International Polar Year ‘Aliens in Antarctica’ project has measured the propagule load carried in the clothing and gear of researchers and visitors to the Antarctic region.

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22 April 2014
Read more about the article Impacts of invasive crayfish on ecosystems
Michelle Jackson sampling red swamp (Procambarus clarkii) and signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus)
2014 / News

Impacts of invasive crayfish on ecosystems

The management of invasive species is made more complex when more than one invasive species is present in a given ecosystem at the same time. Several invasive species may have a greater effect than one species does alone and there can be synergistic effects that result in a cascade of impacts and a large change in the way the ecosystem functions.

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17 April 2014