Argentine Ant Invasion Meets Resistance from Natives
The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile), from humble beginnings in South America, is now invasive on every continent and has a place on the list of 100 of the World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species. Transported around the world via human activity, this omnivorous ant impacts upon native flora and fauna and has been incredibly successful in outcompeting…
Are we fuelling future invasions?
The world is fast running out of fossil fuels and with an energy crisis looming, intensive research is being carried out across the globe to find renewable alternatives. Top of the list are biofuels; fuels derived from biomass. Will the plants grown to provide this biomass behave themselves when introduced to sites outside their native…
The invasive rinderpest virus is no more
For only the second time in history scientists have succeeded in eradicating a viral infectious disease. The first was over 30 years ago, when in 1979 scientists from the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that smallpox (Variola vera), an infectious human disease that had claimed the lives of hundreds of millions of people, was officially…
Can biocontrol bash the balsam?
After a long hot summer, many custodians of the countryside will be breathing a sigh of relief as the winter months will provide a rest bite from battling with infestations of non-native plant species. Unfortunately, the battle is too often one sided and the weeds are winning! Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) is one of the UK’s…
Natural Born Killers
Last month anglers at Grafham Water reservoir in Cambridgeshire, UK spotted the invasive killer shrimp Dikerogammarus villosus. The first sighting of this ferocious little beast in the UK has instigated the GB Non Native Species Secretariat (NNSS) to issue a species alert as part of the GB rapid response protocol in an attempt to contain…
Public perception and knotweed biocontrol
In 2010, we commenced with a controlled release of the specialist Japanese knotweed natural enemy, Aphalara itadori, in the UK. This has been the culmination of many years of project development and intense research and is effectively a first for Europe, at least as far as weeds are concerned. Japanese knotweed pushing through tarmac in Buckinghamshire…