Research news on invasive species

Invasive species are non-native organisms that establish self-sustaining populations and spread beyond their initial introduction sites, causing or likely to cause significant ecological, economic, or health impacts. Research on invasive species examines pathways of introduction, propagule pressure, life-history traits that facilitate invasion (e.g., high reproductive rate, broad ecological tolerance), and interactions with native communities, including competition, predation, hybridization, and pathogen transmission. The topic also encompasses invasion stages (transport, introduction, establishment, spread), invasion ecology theory (e.g., enemy release, biotic resistance), risk assessment, and management strategies such as prevention, early detection, rapid response, and long-term control or eradication.

Mating strategies shape tropical plants' invasive ability

A recent study from the Center for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), has found strong evidence that a plant's ability to reproduce on its own—through self-fertilization—is one of the key traits ...

How to stop a mouse plague

The scenes are biblical. Tens of thousands of rodents scattering across canola fields, behind sheds, into machinery. River fish with bellies full of mice. Carcasses littering the street, the sidewalk, outside your home. In ...

The invasive fern that science misidentified for decades

Salvinia molesta can double its biomass in 36 hours. It spreads across ponds, lakes and slow-moving waterways in a smothering green mat, blocking sunlight, consuming oxygen and collapsing the ecosystems beneath it. Now present ...

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