World's five worst invasive alien ant threats to biodiversity hotspots will not decrease significantly under future climatic conditions Invasive alien ants have reduced the populations of native species and even caused species extinction through direct predation, competition for resour…

‘World's five worst #invasivealien ant threats to #biodiversityhotspots will not decrease significantly under future climatic conditions’ 🌍🐜

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Aliens on Your Doorstep: Invasive Species and You Did you know aliens live among us? IPBES just launched its landmark new Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control – the largest study ever of its kind. Join Brit as she speaks with one of the co-chairs of that Assessment, Professor Helen Roy, about her enthusiasm for addressing these risk...

An #InvasiveAlien tree species once meant to combat desertification in Kenya is spreading at a rate of up to 15% a year, choking vast rangelands.
Read more in @theguardian.com:🌏http://bit.ly/44kszhN

Hear more on this topic from guest Maria Loreto Castillo in our IPBES podcast:🧪

The Cut-Off Channel at Wretton is carpeted in #invasivealien Zebra Mussels, esp clustered on any hard surfaces eg fallen tree trunk. They keep the water amazingly clear (even in absence of Daphnia swarms of 2 weeks earlier) but I worry they'll obscure more prehistoric bones. #invertebrate 13/21

Shocked to find #invasivealien Demon Shrimp (Dikerogammarus haemobaphes). With Cut-off Channel artificially flowing to River Lark, matter of time before it's invaded. It already has Signal Crayfish.
Lots bright red Water Mites (Hydrachnidae).
Not sure what insects have emerged? #invertebrate
7/25

The Cut-Off Channel's clarity - esp. amazing as it's flowing from Great Ouse (during times of flood it flows other way, from the Lark!) - is horrendous infestation of #invasivealien Zebra Mussels (top). How long before they smother the native Swollen River Mussels (Unio tumidus). #invertebrate 6/25

I always enjoy freshwater sponges (Spongillidae) in East Anglian chalk streams like the River Little Ouse, but not the #invasivealien Signal Crayfish such as this deceased monster.
Common molluscs of these #rivers include Wandering & Common River (Viviparus viviparus) snails #SpongeThursday 13/14

The Little Ouse at Lakenheath Fen is patrolled by droves of Common River-snail (Viviparus viviparus). No idea what's going on with the top one? Seems to have taken leave of its shell. Looks v painful. Sadly the banks in some places riddled with excavations of #invasivealien Signal Crayfish. 17/24

In Little Ouse, huge numbers of #invasivealien, but nonetheless, charming, Bitterlings, a few males still in breeding colours. Plenty Duck & Swan mussels into which they inject, via the siphons, their eggs & sperm, so the eggs can mature & hatch in safety before the fry exit via the siphons. 16/24

Saw some fine Marbled (Pachygrapsus marmoratus) & Warty (Eriphia verrucosa) crabs at La Réserve de Nice, as well as plenty of Rayed Mediterranean Limpets (Patella caerulea) & shells of the #invasivealien Pacific Oyster (Magallana gigas). #crustacean #molluscmonday #france #invertebrate 11/14

The macrophyte diversity of the River Lark upstream of Isleham marina was rather low. A few patches of Water Starwort & Perfoliate Pondweed (Potamogeton perfoliatus), a Lesser Water-Parsnip (Berula erecta) & too many big banks of the #invasivealien Nuttall's Waterweed (Elodea nuttallii). 12/14

On Friday in River Rhône at Chemin du Moulin des Frère, glorious swim (19.6°C) but useless snorkel, almost zero vis. due to inflow from Arve to crystal clear waters flowing from Lake Geneva. Saw only #InvasiveAlien Zebra mussels (dead?), Spiked Water Milfoil & a fish jump. #MySwim #MolluscMonday 1/4

The Sapiston River/Black Bourn below Ixworth also suffers incredibly dense infestation of #InvasiveAlien Signal Crayfish riddling #river bed & banks with their holes. Another alien is tiny Jenkins Spire-snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). At least Great Ram's-horn is native. #snailsky #snails 5/10

Below the #fish pass, I did spot a colony of Sessilida ciliates & also the only #invasivealien Signal Crayfish I saw, though there was plenty of their holes riddling the river bed further upstream, which is where I found & removed from the #RiverLark an illegal crayfish trap. #cilia #rivers 10/12

Apart from the European/Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), the only fish we saw was this small, dead Roach.

Was disturbed to find one group of what I think could be #invasivealien Zebra Mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) - which have seen elsewhere in vicinity bsky.app/profile/nume.... #MolluscMonday 3/6

In Nqanqarhu. #Ntabelanga Dam featured in #SONA. Breakfasting @ coffee shop which can't serve tap water = undrinkable. Will ask why #DFFE #Creecy cut #WorkingforWater funding. Clearing #invasivealien trees/restoring #watercatchments is best bang-for-buck to secure water supply. #SANParks #SANBI

Apart from fry, the only animal life I saw in 275 m of River Lark downstream of the noisome inflow, up from Gravel House, was #invasivealien Signal Crayfish.
Upstream, as well as wall to wall fish, there were Painter's Mussels (Unio pictorum). #chalkstreams #WorldRiversDay 3/10

Good to see plenty Freshwater Shrimps (Gammarus pulex) in River Sapiston/Black Bourn #Ixworth, not good seeing #invasivealien Signal Crayfish.
Lake Sponge (Spongilla lacustris) under rocks & bridge.
On my last 2 swims have seen live Cellar Slugs (Limacus sp) in rivers. Why?
6/9

Sadly, a high incidence of the Microsporidian parasite, Glugea anomala among the Three-spined Sticklebacks in the Black Bourn & met this feisty little #invasivealien Signal Crayfish at the ford, along with a dead one further down. #Chalkstreams #FakenhamMagna #Suffolk #fish 4/5

Some fine displays of Lake Sponge (Spongilla lacustris), in hues of green & cream - beneath the surface of the River Thet as it flows past Cloverfields Water Meadows.
Plenty of evidence of Swan Mussels, & much less welcome, #invasivealien Signal Crayfish. #SpongeThursday 10/12

The River Babingley below the A149 has lots of big marauding #invasivealien Chinese Mitten Crabs, very bold.
One of the holes in the bank seemed to have a barricade of stones at entrance, like Octopuses make for their dens. Could this be done by Chinese Mitten Crabs?
4/11

Still plenty Swan Mussels to host Bitterling young, but for how long - #invasivealien Zebra Mussels colony in the Wissey under railway bridge. River bed sadly barren, due to clearance of vegetation for navigation? But riddled with huge Chinese Mitten Crabs & their holes. 4/10

V v shocked to find infestation of #invasivealien Zebra Mussels in Cut-off Channel at Stoke Ferry aqueduct, incl. killing a Duck Mussel. & a Demon Shrimp? From @NBNAtlas only 2nd shrimp record E of Great Ouse & most Eastern mussel on Cut-off.
What's the "string of beads"?
13/17

Great piece by @erikstokstad on extraordinary good news of China's plan to eradicate 90% of #invasivealien Spartina cordgrass from its coastal wetlands by 2025 & input of innovative ultrafast @ConservEvidence global review of what control methods work....

Amidst the quaggascape of Lake Geneva & further #invasivealien Canadian Waterweed (Elodea canadensis), native plants cling on: Perfoliate Pondweed (Potamogeton perfoliatus), pretty Opposite-leaved Pondweed (Groenlandia densa) & Spiked Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum).
3/5

Blissful to swim in crystal clear, warm(ish) water (14.2°C) of Lake Geneva at La Perle du Lac for 30mins, as antidote to a week of @RamsarConv #COP14, but saw not 1 fish & shocked to find it utterly infested with #invasivealien Quagga Mussels.
#MySwim #Geneva #ActForWetlands 1/5

Along the banks of Wissey Little River at Northwold there's the cloying scent of Himalayan Balsam, an #invasivealien that has severely infested the banks, pretty though it is, with its fun, poppable seed pods. #invasiveplants #InvasiveSpecies #chalkstreams #wildflowerhour
5/8

On a bright, autumn afternoon @FullersMill, Water Chickweed (Myosoton aquaticum) in bloom on banks, while under stones in River Lark, freshwater sponges & #invasivealien Signal Crayfish lurk. #wildflowerhour #spongethursday #WestStow #Suffolk #Brecks #Breckland #sundayvibes 2/2

It seems that these crabs discovered in the Gaywood River in Norfolk are not Chinese Mitten Crabs, but the rarer, also damaging, invasive alien species, Asian Shore Crabs (Hemigrapsus sanguineus).
@NorfolkBIS @EnvAgencyAnglia @OuseEcologyEA @echinoblog #nonnative #invasivealien

In tributary of River Lark from @SWTLackfordLake, Anabolia nervosa caddis fly larvae, sticks attached to case to protect themselves from trout & other fish predators.
Hefty #invasivealien Signal Crayfish.
Sayers Brook tributary not snorkleable.
#chalkstreams #WestSuffolk
4/5

Delighted to find Stone Loach in sweet spot where River Lark rushes thro' tunnel under A11 at Barton Mills, washing all the silt off the riverbed. Roach, Gudgeon, Minnows & a Three-spined Stickleback all concentrated there + lurking #invasivealien Signal Crayfish. #MySwim 1/5