Coronavirus and invasive species

Pandemic concept with map
This article was originally published on the CHAP blog. Dr Richard Shaw is Country Director and Regional Coordinator Invasives at CABI UK. Using his invasive species expertise, he examines the global spread of coronavirus
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Planting invasive species could make our carbon problem worse

This article was originally published on Popular Science Fast-growing vegetation can reduce carbon stored underground. The radiata pine has unwittingly taken root across the world. Its native range is confined to a small section of the California coast and a few islands along Baja California. Today, millions of acres of the tree are spread across South America,…
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Invasive parakeets disrupt Hawaii’s agriculture

Parakeet eats fruit from a tree
Originally published on Island Conservation Community members look for solutions to the threat of invasive Rose-ringed Parakeets in Kauai which are impacting native wildlife and the economy.
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New hope for trees affected by ash dieback

Originally published on BBC Science & Environment Scientists say there is new hope in the fight against a disease that is devastating ash trees. A study has identified the genes that give trees resistance to ash dieback, which arrived in the UK in 2012 and has now spread to almost every part of the country.
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A Plague of Cactus

CABI's Dr Arne Witt with a Masai man in Laikipia, Kenya, an area severely affected by invasive Opuntia.
By Susan Moran. Reblogged from bioGraphic. Across Kenya’s wildlife-rich Laikipia Plateau, a thorny enemy is advancing. But a tiny sap-sucking insect may help save the region’s animals and people. Before the sun has peeked above the horizon, Philip Nangoo Larpei, a Maasai elder in his 60s or 70s (he hasn’t kept track), is already outside checking…
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Invasive tadpoles can recognise potential predators in new environments

By Natasha Kruger. Reblogged from The Conversation. Invasive species have become an increasingly big threat to indigenous ones as the spread of alien animals and plants has accelerated with the growth of global trade. Some can be very destructive, while some live in close proximity without posing any sort of threat. Understanding the behaviour of invasive…
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Invasive species aren’t just a ‘first world problem’

By Jim Erickson-Michigan. Reblogged from Futurity. Invasions from alien plants, animals, and pathogens threaten the economies of the world’s poorest nations, according to study. One-sixth of the global land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion, including substantial areas in developing countries and biodiversity hotspots, according to the study published in Nature Communications.
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Kenya faces devastating Prosopis invasion: What can be done

Prosopis tree branches with yellow seed pods hanging from them.
By Purity Rima Mbaabu. Originally published on The Conversation. Woody plant species have been deliberately introduced into many arid and semi-arid regions across the world as they can help combat desertification and provide resources – like fuelwood – to the rural poor. But some of these alien trees and shrubs have become invasive, having devastating effects on other species as…
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Invasive species are Australia’s number-one extinction threat

A barking owl
By Andy Sheppard and Linda Broadhurst. Originally published on The Conversation. This week many people across the world stopped and stared as extreme headlines announced that one eighth of the world’s species – more than a million – are threatened with extinction. According to the UN report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services…
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Invasive weed could cut crop yields by 30 per cent

By Nicholas Okeya. Originally published on SciDev.Net. A dangerous invasive alien weed known as field dodder could be a serious menace to agriculture and biodiversity across Sub-Saharan Africa, and reduce crop yields, scientists say.
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