scholarly journals Extant populations of endemic partulids on Tahiti, French Polynesia

Oryx ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Coote ◽  
Eric Loeve ◽  
Jean-Yves Meyer ◽  
Dave Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Conservation Biology ◽  
Current Distribution ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Expert Advice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Island Ecosystem

AbstractThe current distribution of endemic partulid snails on Tahiti in French Polynesia reflects the danger of ignoring expert advice and introducing an alien species into a fragile island ecosystem. The endemic tree-snail fauna of the island now faces extinction. Although the extinction of the native species of Partula (Partulidae; Polynesian tree snails) on Moorea in French Polynesia is well known in the world of conservation biology, losses on other Pacific islands are less well described. This paper presents an update on the status of partulid snail populations on Tahiti in the light of fieldwork undertaken between 1995 and 1997. Native snails still exist in good numbers in two areas, at opposite ends of the island. In other areas, sightings of single or a few individuals indicate remnant populations now on the edge of extinction. Efforts to protect these populations and others in French Polynesia are being planned in collaboration with local government authorities.

An eco-evolutionary rationale to distinguish alien and native status: why the dingo is a native species on mainland Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-366
Author(s):  
Peter B. Banks
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Introduced Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Range Transport ◽  
The Status ◽  
Local Species ◽  
Natural Range ◽  
Native Status

Distinguishing between whether a species is alien or native can be problematic, especially for introduced species that are long-established in new areas outside of their natural range. Transport by humans is the criterion for alien status used by many definitions, whereas arbitrary time since arrival to a location is often used to define native status. Here I propose an eco-evolutionary approach to distinguish between alien and native status and use this to resolve uncertainty in the status of the dingo in Australia. Dingoes were transported to mainland Australia by humans, but more than 4000 years ago, and dingoes now interbreed with feral domestic dogs. Legally, this mix of events has the dingo classified as native in some jurisdictions and alien in others. I suggest that native status for introduced species should be based on (1) whether the species has evolved in their new environment; (2) whether local species recognise and respond to them as they do towards deep endemic native species, and; (3) whether their impacts benchmark against those of a native species or are exaggerated like those of other alien species. Dingoes are behaviourally, reproductively and morphologically different to close ancestors from south-east Asia, and this difference has a genetic basis indicative of evolution in Australia. There is abundant evidence that native prey species on mainland Australia recognise and respond to them as a dangerous predator, which they are. But there is strong evidence that dingo impacts on prey are not exaggerated, with effect sizes from mensurative experiments similar to those of experiments on native predators rather than alien predators. These three lines of evidence suggest dingoes should be considered native to mainland Australia. I suggest this eco-evolutionary approach to defining native status can be helpful in resolving the often-heated debates about when an alien species becomes native.

scholarly journals Greenhouses – urban biodiversity hotspot of alien Oribatida (Acari) species

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Mateusz OSZUST ◽  
◽  
Ziemowit OLSZANOWSKI ◽  
Marta PRZYMUSZAŁA ◽  
d Aleksandra JAGIEŁŁO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Oribatid Mites ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Tropical Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Parts

Palm houses and other greenhouses, due to maintaining constant temperature and humidity, allow the cultivation in Europe of plants from different parts of the world, even from tropical regions. However, sometimes they are also a habitat for alien species of spiders, mites, insect, etc. These animals have been introduced accidentally with contaminated plants, seeds, seedlings, soil and thanks to stable conditions maintained in greenhouses, they may colonize these places. Example of arthropods, of which even tropical species occur in several greenhouses, are oribatid mites – minute saprophagous arachnids that mostly inhabit soil. In Europe they are represented by about 2,000 species, while worldwide – over 10,000 taxa were described. The aim of this research was to investigate the selected greenhouses for the biodiversity of oribatid mites and the presence of non-native species. In total, 49 taxa were recorded, including 23 alien species (for example, a Neotropical taxon Galumna hamifer, or Oriental Suctobelbella parallelodentata). These results confirm that greenhouses are the places of occurrence of many alien oribatid species. The obtained results may be used in future research on the biology of poorly known tropical mites.

scholarly journals A review of the diversity and impact of invasive non-native species in tropical marine ecosystems

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa Alidoost Salimi ◽  
Joel C. Creed ◽  
Melanie M. Esch ◽  
Douglas Fenner ◽  
Zeehan Jaafar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Coral Reefs ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
The Other ◽  
Seagrass Beds ◽  
Native Flora ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
The Status

AbstractTropical marine ecosystems are biologically diverse and economically invaluable. However, they are severely threatened from impacts associated with climate change coupled with localized and regional stressors, such as pollution and overfishing. Non-native species (sometimes referred to as ‘alien’ species) are another major threat facing these ecosystems, although rarely discussed and overshadowed by the other stressors mentioned above. NNS can be introduced accidentally (for example via shipping activities) and/or sometimes intentionally (for aquaculture or by hobbyists). Understanding the extent of the impacts NNS have on native flora and fauna often remains challenging, along with ascertaining when the species in question actually became ‘invasive’. Here we review the status of this threat across key tropical marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, algae meadows, mangroves, and seagrass beds. We aim to provide a baseline of where invasive NNS can be found, when they are thought to have been introduced and what impact they are thought to be having on the native ecosystems they now inhabit. In the appended material we provide a comprehensive list of NNS covering key groups such as macroalgae, sponges, seagrasses and mangroves, anthozoans, bryozoans, ascidians, fishes, and crustaceans.

scholarly journals The current distribution of the freshwater crayfish (Decapoda: Astacidae, Cambaridae) in the Neman river basin in Belarus

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-190
Author(s):  
A. V. Alekhnovich ◽  
D. V. Molotkov ◽  
K. Śliwińska
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Current Distribution ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Freshwater Crayfish ◽  
Gravel Pits ◽  
Native Crayfish ◽  
Crayfish Species

The trends in the distribution and occurrence of the freshwater crayfish in the water bodies of the Neman River basin are presents. It has been shown that both native species: the noble and the narrow-clawed crayfish are declined and/or are displaced with rapidly expanding its range the invasive spiny-cheek crayfish. In recent years the alien species was found in isolated gravel pits and lakes, where it could be transferred only by the human activity. These findings confirm the need of the education about the threats posed by the invasive species on the native biodiversity especially with the local community, which is an obligatory practice for protection the native species in the area expanded with non-native crayfish species. Further, to increase the likelihood of the local biodiversity conservation it is highly needed to undertake targeted actions aimed at resettling endangered populations into waterbodies unavailable for the invasive spiny-cheek crayfish expansion.

scholarly journals Analyses towards determining Madagascar’s place in global biogeography

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Şerban Procheş ◽  
Syd Ramdhani
Keyword(s):  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
Tropical Asia ◽  
Taxonomic Level ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
Different Levels

Abstract The relationships of Madagascan plant and animal taxa have been the object of much fascination, Madagascar sharing numerous lineages with Africa, others with Asia, Australia, or the Americas, and many others being of uncertain relationships. In commonly accepted global regionalization schemata, Madagascar is treated together with Africa for animals, and with Africa, tropical Asia and the Pacific islands in the case of plants. Here we examine the similarities between the biotic assemblages of (i) tropical Africa, (ii) Madagascar, and (iii) the rest of the world, on a basic taxonomic level, considering the families of vascular plants and vertebrates as analysis units. The percentages of endemic families, families shared pair-wise between regions, or present in all three, are roughly similar between the two broad groups, though plant families with ranges limited to one region are proportionally fewer. In dendrograms and multidimensional scaling plots for different groups, Madagascar clusters together with Africa, Asia or both, and sometimes with smaller Indian Ocean Islands, but quite often (though not in plants) as a convincingly separate cluster. Our results for vertebrates justify the status of full zoogeographic region for Madagascar, though an equally high rank in geobotanical regionalization would mean also treating Africa and Tropical Asia as separate units, which would be debatable given the overall greater uniformity of plant assemblages. Beyond the Madagascan focus of this paper, the differences between plant and vertebrate clusters shown here suggest different levels of ecological plasticity at the same taxonomic level, with plant families being much more environmentally-bound, and thus clustering along biome lines rather than regional lines.

Pueraria phaseoloides (tropical kudzu).

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval ◽  
Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Soil Improvement ◽  
The United States ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Pueraria Phaseoloides ◽  
Subtropical Region ◽  
The World ◽  
Noxious Weed ◽  
Trees And Shrubs

Abstract P. phaseoloides is a vigorous fast-growing vine included in the Global Compendium of Weeds (Randall, 2012) and listed as one of the most aggressive weeds invading moist habitats in tropical and subtropical regions (USDA-ARS, 2012). It spreads by seeds and by runners (i.e., stolons) which are structures that enable plants to multiply rapidly and colonize entire forests very fast. This species has been extensively introduced in tropical and subtropical region of the world to be used as forage for livestock, to control soil erosion, and as a soil improvement species (Skerman et al., 1991; Cook et al., 2005). P. phaseoloides has the potential to degrade other plants by smothering them under a solid blanket of leaves, by girdling woody stems and tree trunks, and by breaking branches or uprooting entire trees and shrubs by the strength of its weight. Currently, this species is classified as a "noxious weed" in the United States (USDA-NRCS,2012) and as an invasive species in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and Pacific Islands including Hawaii, Fiji, French Polynesia, Niue and New Caledonia (Soria et al., 2002; Acevedo-Rodríguez and Strong, 2012; Chacón and Saborio, 2012; PIER, 2012).

scholarly journals On Darwin’s Steps: Citizen Science Can Help Keep an Eye on Alien Species

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Giovos ◽  
Anastasia Charitou ◽  
Eugenio Gervasini ◽  
Celia López-Cañizares ◽  
Konstantinos Tsiamis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
European Commission ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Information Network ◽  
Citizen Scientist ◽  
The World

Citizens around the world can act like scientists by providing important information about biodiversity that can help scientists’ research. The same applies to species that expand from their areas of origin to other places, often creating problems for the native species. Nowadays, there are plenty of projects that involve citizen scientists in the monitoring of alien species and biodiversity. The European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN) of the European Commission gathers data from several projects and has developed its own app that enables people to report observations of invasive alien species. So, are you ready to become a citizen scientist?

scholarly journals 526 Hawaiian Islands Horticulture: A Prehistoric Perspective

HortScience ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 485F-486
Author(s):  
Robert F. Bevacqua
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Hawaiian Islands ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Horticultural Crops ◽  
Introduced Plants ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Island Ecosystem ◽  
Horticultural Plants

The introduction of horticulture to the Hawaiian Islands by Polynesian voyagers in AD 300 represents the culmination of eastward voyages of discovery by navigators whose origins were in southeastern Asia and who dispersed an important assemblage of horticultural crops through the Pacific islands. Archaeological, botanical, and linguistic evidence has been used to establish that these voyagers, using double-hulled sailing canoes, transported 27 horticultural plants with them in their voyage of discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. This assemblage included banana, coconut palm, sweetpotato, yam, breadfruit, and taro. The introduction of these plants had a dramatic and damaging impact on the island ecosystem. Many native species of plants and birds became extinct as the settlers used fire as a tool in clearing land for the planting of the introduced plants. A complex civilization developed based on the production of horticultural crops. The staple of food for this society was taro or kalo. The corm or underground portion was mashed with water and eaten as a paste called poi. Large, irrigated, terrace systems were developed for taro production. The most enduring achievement of the Polynesian navigators who explored and colonized the Hawaiian Islands was the dispersal of an assemblage of horticultural plants that transformed the natural environment of both Hawaii and much of the world's tropical regions.

Impact of Social Media on English Language: A Review

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Dr. Neha Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
English Language ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
International Level ◽  
Class Society ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Media ◽  
Subsequent Rise

Language being a potent vehicle of transmitting cultural values, norms and beliefs remains a central factor in determining the status of any nation. India is a multilingual country which tends to encourage people to use English at national and international level. Basically English in India owes its presence to the British but its subsequent rise is not fully attributable to the British. It has now become the language of wider communication which is now spoken by large number of people all over the world. It is influenced by many factors such as class, society, developments in science and technology etc. However the major influence on English language is and has been the media.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document