clair084

Invasive sea squirt puts Connecticut's shellfish sector on alert By Natalia Real editorial@fis.com www.fis.com The invasive sea squirt Styela clava has appeared along the Eastern Seaboard and is threatening Connecticut’s USD 30 million shellfish business, informed Carmela Cuomo, head of the marine biology programme at the University of New Haven (UNH). The migration of the foreign pest southward from Canada and northern New England jeopardizes the farming of bivalves such as clams, mussels, scallops and oysters in Long Island Sound. Connecticut’s shellfish industry provides 300 jobs and has 70,000 ac of shellfish farms, according to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture. “The spread of this particular species of sea squirt westward in Long Island Sound, along with laboratory studies of its temperature tolerance, indicates it can survive at higher water temperatures than scientists had previously believed,” Cuomo said. “If further testing confirms that Styela can reproduce in wa...

Updated July 11 -------------------------------------------------------- Plant Conservation Alliance general meeting announcement Wednesday, July 8, 2009 9:30 - 11:30 AM LOCATION: Conference Room at NatureServe 1101 Wilson Boulevard, 15th Floor Arlington, VA 22209 The Plant Conservation Alliance (PCA) Bi-Monthly Meeting is an open forum for anyone interested or working in plant conservation. The meeting is held every other month in the Washington DC metropolitan area. There is roundtable for attendees to share relevant events, as well as updates from each of the PCA working groups and committees, including the Alien Plant Working Group. Regular attendees include representatives from the PCA Federal agencies and from cooperating organizations; however anyone is welcome to attend this meeting. Past meeting summaries and selected presentations are available at http://www.nps.gov/plants/meetings/bimonthly/index.htm . ----------------------------------------------------------- Suffolk Count...