scholarly journals Aliens From an Underwater World

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Morais ◽  
João Encarnação ◽  
Maria Alexandra Teodósio ◽  
Ester Dias

About 3.1 billion people around the world live within 100 km of the coastline. If you are one of those people, then you also live near an estuary. What you probably do not know is that many alien species live in this underwater world, and we are not talking about extraterrestrial species from outer space. Are you scared? Well, do not be! These alien species are from planet Earth. In this article, we will tell you what alien species are, why scientists study them, how any species may become an alien, and how a few alien species may become an invasive species. You will also learn how you can help scientists find and track alien species, and how to defeat them. Along the way, we will give examples of alien species living in the San Francisco Estuary in North America, a paradise for hundreds of alien species.

Polar Record ◽  
1948 ◽  
Vol 5 (35-36) ◽  
pp. 163-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Lloyd

Writing as long ago as 1922, Dr Vilhjalmur Stefansson commented: “There are few nowadays who do not agree that the world is round, but there are almost equally few who apply the principle of the world's roundness consistently when they think about going from place to place.” Twenty-three years later, he returned to the same question, with a statement that, far from sounding prophetic, was all too obvious. “If you shoot robot bombs (as Heaven preserve us from ever doing), they will cross the Arctic on their way from London to Seattle, from Peiping to New York, from San Francisco to. Moscow. That is the way the bombers will fly, if we ever permit them to.”


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e25306
Author(s):  
Shyama Pagad

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) presents annotated country checklists of introduced and invasive species. Annotations include higher taxonomy of the species, synonyms, environment/system in which the species occurs, and its biological status in that country. Invasiveness is classified by evidenced impact in that country. Draft country checklists are subjected to a process of validation and verification by networks of country experts. Challenges encountered across the world include confusion with alien/invasive species terminology, classification of the ‘invasive’ status of an alien species and issues with taxonomic synonyms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Twardochleb ◽  
Leela Dixit ◽  
Mallory Bedwell ◽  
Brittany Davis ◽  
Jared Frantzich

The San Francisco Estuary is home to an important endangered fish called delta smelt. Delta smelt eat small, nutritious animals called zooplankton to survive and grow. In turn, zooplankton grow by eating microscopic plant-like organisms called phytoplankton. In the past, the Estuary was full of plankton and delta smelt. Because people have removed water from the Estuary and invasive species now live there, the Estuary no longer has enough plankton to feed delta smelt, making it difficult for them to survive. Scientists have found a unique place in the Estuary, the Yolo Bypass, that has lots of fish food. The problem is that delta smelt do not live in the Yolo Bypass year-round. Scientists are working to solve this problem by sending river or farm water through the Yolo Bypass, to move fish food downstream to feed the hungry delta smelt and other fish species.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 382 (2) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
JEN-YU WANG ◽  
JENN-CHE WANG

Invasive plants had raised lots of concern about the environment and biodiversity. Many members of Asteraceae are notorious invasive alien species across the world. In Taiwan, Emilia (Asteraceae) contains one native and two naturalized species. Recently, we found some morphologically intermediate individuals between the native E. sonchifolia var. javanica and the alien E. praetermissa from northern Taiwan where the latter two grow sympatrically. Based on morphological comparisons, pollen viability and flow cytometry information, we confirmed the fact of natural hybridization. Herein, we describe a new hybrid Emilia ×latens J.-Y Wang & J.-C. Wang and provide a key to Emilia species in Taiwan.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 130-154
Author(s):  
Midori Yoshimoto

By focusing on two recent site-specific sculptures created on Japanese islands – Umi no Utsuwa (Voyage Through the Void) and Earth Vortex, this article investigates the varying implications of the “island” embedded in the art of Nobuho Nagasawa. Having lived in Japan, Europe, and North America, and traveled extensively, Nagasawa has developed a nomadic sense of life which considers these passages as “islands.” The artist has us look within—using the insulating and introspective effects of islands, and without—to seek new connections and explore the world outside our individual islands of experience. This balance between self and the unknown is a recurring theme in her works. Building further on the concept of self, Nagasawa’s works are informed by the dynamics of community, family, and what it means to belong. In contrast, striking out on a nomadic journey represents freedom, creativity, and self-actualization, which can only be gained along the way.


F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C Tobin

Invasive species pose considerable harm to native ecosystems and biodiversity and frustrate and at times fascinate the invasive species management and scientific communities. Of the numerous non-native species established around the world, only a minority of them are invasive and noxious, whereas the majority are either benign or in fact beneficial. Agriculture in North America, for example, would look dramatically different if only native plants were grown as food crops and without the services of the European honey bee as a pollinator. Yet the minority of species that are invasive negatively alter ecosystems and reduce the services they provide, costing governments, industries, and private citizens billions of dollars annually. In this review, I briefly review the consequences of invasive species and the importance of remaining vigilant in the battle against them. I then focus on their management in an increasingly connected global community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany E. Davis ◽  
Ted Sommer ◽  
Nann A. Fangue ◽  
Anne E. Todgham

Climate change is warming up water all over the world, including in the San Francisco Estuary. This has caused fish who live there to change their behavior in unexpected ways. All animals, including fish, have regular and specialized behaviors that help them to survive. Fish swim, by themselves or in groups, to move to safer habitats, to find food or mates, or just to avoid danger. Scientists worry that changes to these behaviors brought on by warming water will make estuaries less safe for rare and endangered fish like the delta smelt. In the San Francisco Estuary, we found that warmer waters caused delta smelt to swim faster and further away from their neighbors, and to be eaten more often by predators. All these changes could hurt the ability of delta smelt to survive in the future.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary J. Jackson ◽  
Joshua J. Gruber ◽  
Joel P. Van Eenennaam

Abstract Inadequate recruitment is a hallmark of declining sturgeon populations throughout the world. Efforts to understand and address the processes that regulate recruitment are of foremost importance for successful management and recovery. Fish biologists previously only knew San Francisco Estuary white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) to spawn in the Sacramento River, California. We assessed potential white sturgeon spawning locations by deploying artificial substrate samplers during late winter and spring of 2011 and 2012 from river kilometers 115.2 to 145.3 of the San Joaquin River. Collections of fertilized eggs, coupled with hydrology data, confirm that white sturgeon spawned within one and four sites in the San Joaquin River during wet (2011; n = 23) and dry (2012; n = 65) water-year conditions. Small pulse flow augmentations intended to benefit juvenile salmonids appear to have triggered white sturgeon spawning within this system. Understanding the effects of water management on spawning and subsequent recruitment is necessary to increase white sturgeon recruitment to the San Francisco Estuary.


AILA Review ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 2-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Valdman

Albert Valdman traces the history of AILA through his memories of its origins in the early 1960s in France to its place today as the umbrella organization of over 30 national associations from all over the world. He begins with a discussion of AILA’s early days — centered in Western Europe and focused on language learning — and follows its expansion in North America and the rest of the world and to other domains of applied linguistics. Along the way, he cites significant meetings, resulting publications, research groups, the question of language use within the organization and many linguists who have contributed to the evolution of AILA.


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