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Updated 2/24 TNC's Global Invasive Species Team closing shop due to budget cuts From: Barry Rice, TNC [Reprinted from the GIST listserv] As a result of budget cutbacks announced last week, The Nature Conservancy's Global Invasive Species Team (GIST) is being disbanded and will close down much of its work over the next few weeks and months. Ramifications of this closure are the following: A)The GIST ilistserve will be closing in early March. B)The GIST web site ( http://tncinvasives.org/ ) will no longer be supported as of March 6: after that date it will merely coast without updates. It may disappear entirely after August. C)We hope that portions of the site can be relocated to other web sites--see messages 3-5 below if you can support the content. D)Our new wiki ( http://invasipedia.org/ ) will no longer be monitored or supported, and so will be removed unless another organization offers to house and manage it (see message 5, below). If you are interested in supporting some of...

Updated 2/12 Exotic fish pose threat to native species in Everglades By Curtis Morgan, Miami Herald The small pond six miles deep in Everglades National Park suddenly began bubbling like a pot aboil -- a telltale sign of air-slurping walking catfish. Dave Hallac, the park's chief biologist, dipped a net into the muddy commotion and hauled up a mess of wriggling slime so hefty it surprised even him. He counted out 56 fish from a single scoop. Walking catfish, along with other species originally imported for somebody's tank or table, outnumbered natives in this shallow, shady bayhead by an unhealthy margin. Unlike giant python, the Glades' most notorious invader, these dinky denizens don't draw attention to their presence by, say, swallowing an alligator and exploding. But for park scientists, their spread is no small concern. ''This is a problem that is 10 times worse than the python, but it's all under water, so nobody knows about it,'' Hallac said. ...

WeedUS WeedUS is a database of information about plants that invade natural areas in the U.S. (including Hawaii). It is intended as an informational and educational tool and is compiled from a wide variety of sources including published and unpublished lists, reports, surveys, and personal observations from experts in the field. Sources include the National Park Service, other federal, state and local agencies, Exotic Pest Plant Councils, Invasive Species Councils and related organizations, The Nature Conservancy, and others. This website is a collaborative project between the Plant Conservation Alliance's Alien Plant Working Group and the University of Georgia - Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health . The project will eventually expand to allow volunteers to provide distribution information on infestations of species in the database. Link ----------------------------------------------------------- Odum Conference 2009 Understanding and managing biological invasions as ...