Everyone
everyone's blog posts
Oh, Hi O!
The Union of Concerned Scientists is out with a new report on the state of invasive species in Ohio. The report, which covers everything from what species are invading The Buckeye State to what should be done about it, complements earlier UCS prod...
Separation Of Perch And Lake?
FOX News, among others, has the story about a new report from the Alliance for the Great Lakes indicating that an "ecological separation" of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River Basin is the only way to keep some invasive species out of the ...
Save the Dates: GBBC is Coming!
Save the Dates: GBBC is Coming! The next Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 13-16, 2009. The National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are calling on everyone to "Count for Fun, Count for the Future!" Par...
Barrier Grief
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an excellent update on the status of the carp-fighting electric fence being constructed in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. The underwater barrier to carp entering the Great Lakes has been under construction ...
Florida Voters Approve Funds for Open Space
Abridged from news release from Trust for Public Lands- dated November 5, 2008: Florida Voters Approve Funds for Open Space, Despite Poor Economy November 5, 2008…Tallahassee, FL…On November 4, voters nationwide approved $7.3 billion...
Butterfly Monitoring Training
There will be a butterfly monitoring training class on Saturday, November 15, 2008 from 9am- 3pm (for more on the Florida Butterfly Monitoring Network, visit http://www.flbutterflies.net/locations.jsp?County=Hillsborough ). It is a 6 hr class that...
Wildlife officials to test hunter-harvested ducks
--- On Mon, 11/3/08, information@myfwc.com <information@myfwc.com> wrote: For immediate release: November 3, 2008Wildlife officials to test hunter-harvested ducks for avian influenzaFlorida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (F...
Cane Toads - That's Good Eatin'???
Northern Territory News has a story about the apparent edibility of the cane toad (Bufo marinus) - "apparent" being a necessary modifier as the cane toad has long been spurned as a nasty invader so poisonous that the dogs and snakes that try to ea...
Need More Seeds, Fewer Leechers
Back in 2004, a study done by University of Oregon researchers revealed that wild bird seed can be a haven for noxious weeds. Weed scientists examined seed from ten different brands of seed found more than fifty different weed seed contaminants, i...
Vote yes for ELAPP — and spread the word!
--- On Tue, 10/28/08, Mariella Smith wrote: Please forward this message to other Hillsborough County voters you know. _____________________ Vote YES for ELAPP Way down at the bottom of your ballot is a Hillsborough County referendum...
Damming With Feint Praise
There was an interesting new study published in last month's Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment regarding the propensity for man-made reservoirs to act as, well, reservoirs for aquatic invasive species. Researchers looked at five well-known ...
A Wild Boah
According to this story in the Worcester Telegram, a wild boar (Sus scrofa, feral pig) was discovered along a highway in Massachusetts earlier this week. A police officer found the animal, which was seriously injured (presumably struck by a vehicl...
Rural Herp Roadkill
This sounds like a great monitoring opportunity for a citizen science project. If nothing else, it tells an important story- herps have enough problems with global warming and fungus without the final nail of having a road be...
Weekend Photoblogging
Japanese hops Originally uploaded by urticaI remember passing by this plant in Boston this past spring and just stopping and staring. The vine had pretty much taken over the raised bed it was in, except for the tree in the center. First time I hav...
Bringing Home The Oops
Interesting article at the Environment News Service about the introduction of Turkestan cockroaches (Blatta lateralis) to the Southwestern USA. The vector for these creepy crawlies? Turns out they often hide in gear brought back by soldiers servin...
Camel Trammel
Chuck over at Lounge of the Lab Lemming sent in a link to his recent pondering of the oddity that is the Australian feral camel (Camelus dromedarius). Introduced in the late 19th century, the camels have no natural predators, and are now being kep...
Project FeederWatch: Good for birds, good for people
**A little something for newsletters, bulletin boards, web sites, etc. if you wish--thanks for helping us spread the word about another new season of Project FeederWatch!**Contact: David Bonter, Project leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology (607...
Contracting The Pythonosphere?
A while back the ISW featured a post about a USGS study that predicted the potential range for the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) encompassed the entire southern third of the USA. Now a new study published in the journal PLoS One dispu...
Please vote YES on ELAPP
From a concerned citizen: Hello everyone, Please vote YES on ELAPP to preserve environmentally sensitive lands in Hillsborough County. This is not a Democrat v. Republican issue, this is a quality of life issue for all of&nb...
Frog Blog Blogging
thingfish23 over at Due for a Turnover is blogging about the Cuban tree frogs (Osteopilus septentrionalis) that are taking over his house in Florida, Ten Commandments style: "These are ALL Cuban treefrogs. They are ALL invasive. I don't have enou...
Stream Waterwatch’s Introduction to Water Quality Training
Stream Waterwatch Volunteers Make the Difference Mark your Calendars! Stream Waterwatch's Introduction to Water Quality Training amd Biological Assessment Friday, September 26th Training starts at 6 pm Location: H...
Holy Pickerel!
Maine Today is reporting that state wildlife officials shocked and netted a three-pound koi (Cyprinus carpio) in Pickerel Pond last week. The fish was just one of at least two individuals spotted in the pond earlier this summer. No one knows how t...
NCLI Headed to House Vote - Act Now!
NCLI Headed to House Vote Please email your House member to urge support! The No Child Left Inside Act of 2008 is expected to receive a final vote in the House of Representatives Thursday, September 18th. &nb...
Illegal dumping in storm drainage system
From John McGee, Stormwater Environmental Education Programs Coordinator (please note that the info sheet mentioned below is not attached to this post. Please contact Mr. McGee if you see incidents of illegal dumping and he will em...
Froggery
The Reno Gazette-Journal is reporting that game wardens in the state of Nevada, having spent the past several weeks tracking down African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) illegally imported into the state, have discovered the source of the frogs: a F...
Times Is Marching On...And Times...Is Still Marching Onnnnnnn
The invasive species world will likely be buzzing about this New York Times article (if they force you to log in, try bugmenot) pointing out that introduced species very rarely lead to native species extinctions. Read the NYT version and discuss a...
Jawbreaker
A teenager in Arkansas is nursing a broken jaw after he was struck by a silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) while riding around a local lake in an inner tube (the inner tube was being towed by a speedboat). While this might strike some of yo...
Weekend Photoblogging
Spotted Turtle-dove Originally uploaded by aaardvaarkNice shot of a spotted turtle dove (Streptopelia chinensis) in a park in Australia. As its scientific name indicates, this species is native to China, but it has been introduced all over the wor...
The Thorn Burdens
The Africa Science News Service is reporting about a threat to the wildlife in Kenya's nature reserves caused by the invasive Mauritius thorn (Caesalpinia decapetala). Also known as "cat's claw," this thorny leguminous shrub is poisonous to the la...
Twitterific
The ISW twitters breaking invasive species news. Want to be the first to know when something bad shows up? Follow the feed.
Tahoe Tango
The Reno Gazatte-Journal is reporting that Lake Tahoe had a near miss last week when a boater showed up with quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis) on his vessel. The boater's last stop: Lake Mead, site of the fairly infamous first known occurrence o...
Small Craft Advisory
KPBS in California is reminding listeners who might be thinking of heading out onto the water this Labor Day weekend to keep a mindful eye on their boating equipment. With the recent discoveries of both quagga and zebra mussels in their state, Cal...
International Coastal Cleanup 2008
Thanks to Nanette Holland O'Hara, Public Outreach Coordinator, Tampa Bay Estuary Program for providing the following regional information: FYI. See below for info regarding Coastal Cleanup in September. Dates vary according to county. For Hillsbor...
Tampa Audubon Frog Outing Friday, August 29
Tampa Audubon Frog Outing Friday,August 29, 7:30pm,Flatwoods Wilderness Park.Just a reminder if you have not signed up for the Frog Listening Field Trip next Friday night, August 29, 2008, 7:30 PM. Please r.s.v.p as soon as possible as it is getti...
Shaking The Trees
The story of the brown tree snake's (Boiga irregularis) decimation of the birds of Guam has been well documented in invasive species literature (and here at the ISW as well). But now, word comes from The Washington Post that the impact of the intr...
Swallowtail Kite report
Following is the acknowledgement from a Swallowtail Kite sighting that I just reported. A photo can be found at http://familynaturalists.ning.com/photo/photo/show?id=2007224%3APhoto%3A1061Report your sighting at http://www.thecenterforbirdsofprey....
Freedom Of Association
The Telegraph is reporting that hundreds of invasive crayfish have been found dead in the UK...but that's not a good thing. The Turkish crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus) is an Eastern European species that has been introduced to the UK, one of at l...
Mass Beetle
The Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) was discovered last week in Worcester, Massachusetts, the first sighting of the species in Massachusetts (or in any of New England). Taking calls all day from concerned folks has got me beat, ...
Playing with Wordle
Visualizations can be powerful…..maybe not so much for my blog but Wordle is very cool. Maybe sometime soon I’ll plug some serious text into Wordle and see what it reveals. It would be even cooler if there were active links contained ...
Reenactors, Anachronists, First Lives and Second Life
One of my co-workers has a current significant other who is a pirate reenactor - which I have to admit was a new one to me. And we have spoken here, on occasion, of the SCA in tones ranging from admirable to puzzled but one thing I will say unequ...
EAB in WI
Add Wisconsin to the list of states the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) calls home...for now anyway. The Wisconsin Ag Connection, KARE 11 News, and others are reporting that EAB trapping surveys revealed the beetle's presence in Ozaukee Co...
You Can Lead A Snake To Water...
An NAS Alert just came through that the Northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon), a species known only in the eastern half of North America, has been found in California. A 2007 publication in the journal Herpetological Review indicates that a breedi...
Postal Service
In case you are wondering why the posts aren't quite so "daily" here at the ISW, it is because I have a new job that came with a new website and I have been blogging a bit over there. The Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project is, as you ...
Fun With Weeding
In my yard today... Pulled: 20 Norway maple seedlings (Acer platanoides) Cut: 7 Norway maple saplings/suckers (note to self: get Weed Wrench!) Severed: 5 Asiatic bittersweet vines (Celastrus orbiculatus) Spared (from said bittersweet vines): 2 che...
All Your Database Are Belong To Us
The Global Invasive Species Information Network (GISIN) just published a massive list of online databases related to non-native/invasive species. The list, covering all parts of the globe, currently contains over 250 entries, from the Marine Alien...
Crabola
The Marine Invasions Research Lab is reporting that the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) has now been found in New Jersey, in two locations during the past month. They're also reporting additional new sightings of the crab along the Hudson...
Guinea Pig Revolution
As a nice followup to Sunday's post about feral guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) in Hawaii, Andrew B. sends in this article about feral guinea pigs in New Zealand. This time, a Kiwi couple has claimed responsibility for intentionally releasing the cavies ...
streamwatch training
Stream Waterwatch Volunteers Make the DifferenceMark your Calendars! Stream Waterwatch's Introduction to Water Quality Training and Annual Water Quality Assurance First 10 volunteers to RSVP will receive Lowry Park Zoo Tickets at the event…Locati...
Broadband presentation, and let’s play a game…..
I’m off, in about 20 minutes, to do an exciting presentation on broadband and it’s benefits for a group of county clerks. I’ve produced the shortest powerpoint in my life, yet, coming in at 12 pages…9 if you discount the ti...
Pet Project
The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that feral guinea pigs (Cavia spp.) are on the run on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu. Yes, that's right, guinea pigs, not hogs! Over the past two months more than 40 of the portly little pets have been caught roa...