invasive species

Stories 81 - 93 | << Prev 

Japanese Tsunami Dock Washes Up in Oregon

Biologists fear invasive species hitched a ride

(Newser) - The West Coast has encountered its largest piece of tsunami debris yet—an entire dock that was ripped from its moorings by the monster wave that hit Japan 15 months ago. The 66-foot structure was spotted floating off the coast of Oregon on Monday and washed ashore sometime yesterday. It'...

Tiny Guam Battles 2 Million Snakes

Brown tree snakes are killing native species and biting humans

(Newser) - Two million snakes have taken over the tiny island of Guam, with devastating consequences. Described by the BBC as "one of the most successful invasive species ever," the the brown tree snake is believed to have first slithered onto the 30-mile-long US territory 60 years ago, likely carried...

Snake-Free Hawaii Fears Slithery Invasion

Authorities see more illegal pets, worry about ecosystem

(Newser) - Leave it to a snake to ruin paradise. Hawaiian officials are worried that a steady increase in illegal snake ownership—a 9-foot boa and a 7-foot python were captured this month after escaping—will threaten the islands' fragile ecosystem and kill off birds and flowers, reports the Associated Press . Environmental...

Insect Threatens Hawaii's Top-Shelf Kona Coffee

Coffee berry borer will make beans pricier

(Newser) - Coffee from Hawaii's Kona coast is sought the world over—and can command a price of more than $50 a pound. But the Kona harvest is facing a grave danger: infestation from a the coffee berry borer, a relentless pest that can eradicate a crop, NPR reports. The borer eats...

Be a Good American: Eat This Fish

The lionfish may ruin us if you don't!

(Newser) - How to make Uncle Sam proud: Buy American, fly a flag, eat...lionfish? That third one is, indeed, what one government agency would like you to do. The voracious, aggressively invasive lionfish is wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, off the Florida Keys, and along the Atlantic as far north as...

Back From Brink, Eastern Forests Face New Threats

Damage from early colonization recouped, but other forces conspire

(Newser) - In the early days—or, rather, centuries—of the American experiment, the vast Eastern forests were logged almost to oblivion. But with the opening of the frontier to the West, trees from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast rebounded, and by 1997 the forests had regained almost 70% of their...

Aussies Bicker Over How to Murder Toads

State would prefer folks bludgeon, not suffocate invasive species

(Newser) - Residents of Western Australia, Oz’s largest state, are incensed by a government mandate that might seem odd to those in, say, Kansas: When engaged in the mass killing of cane toads, use the cricket bat instead of the bag of carbon dioxide. Aussies have long made a sport of...

Asian Carp: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Eat 'Em

Louisiana chefs and gov't hatch plan to market invasive fish

(Newser) - If the idea of biting into Asian carp, the invasive species wreaking havoc from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi Delta, sounds unappetizing, one Louisiana chef would like to sell you on delicious “silverfin.” For those not in the know, that’s Asian carp. The rebranding is part...

S. Florida Fears New Everglades 'Super Snake'

Florida hunts for new species of python

(Newser) - A state-coordinated hunt for a new invasive python population is under way in the Everglades, amid fears that Southern Florida could soon be home to a new “super snake.” The 3-day hunt launched Tuesday has so far nabbed at least five African rock pythons, one of them 14...

$3M Ill. Fish Kill Yields 1 Carp

Scientists pleased with effort to combat invasive species

(Newser) - The 3-day, $3 million attempt to purge a canal leading to Lake Michigan of invasive Asian carp has so far yielded just a single dead specimen. Biologists are still sifting through the tens of thousands of other fish poisoned in the purge, the largest deliberate fish kill in Illinois history....

Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'
 Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'
ANALYSIS
Mar 21, 2009 2:41 AM CDT

Global Warming Will Bring 'Global Weirding'

(Newser) - While the physical changes brought on by global warming—droughts, floods, and the like—are fairly easy to model, the effect on ecosystems is disconcertingly unpredictable, John Waldman writes in Yale Environment 360. Species will shift migration patterns and seek new homes, affecting other species in ways we can't imagine....

Invasive Species Getting Bad Rap: Scientists

Exotics can cause extinctions, but spur diversity, evolution, too

(Newser) - Invasive species don’t always spell disaster for native ecosystems and animal life, scientists say after a study of the process and its effects on New Zealand. More than 22,000 non-native plants have been introduced to the islands, the New York Times reports, and only three native species have...

Midwest Fights Weeds With Bugs

Biological control takes a food-chain approach to invasive plants

(Newser) - Officials in the Midwest are returning to a tried-and-true technique to fight invasive plants, the Chicago Tribune reports. Biological control uses natural enemies to rein in pests, and importing a tiny brown beetle in the 1990s brought under control a fast-spreading European weed, known as loosestrife, that was terrorizing agriculture....

Stories 81 - 93 | << Prev 
Most Read on Newser