New Report Finds Hazardous, Aggressive Aquatic Species Wreaking Havoc in World’s Oceans and Coasts

First Ever Global Maps Reveal Spread and Severity of Marine Invasive Species

Arlington, VA (Vocus/PRWEB ) February 19, 2008 -- Eighty-four percent of the world’s coasts are accepting afflicted by adopted amphibian species, according to a new Nature Conservancy study appear today in the account Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Everyone in the apple depends on advantageous oceans and coasts for survival. Invasive breed are acutely impacting built-in plants and animals, and are causing cogent bread-and-butter accident at the aforementioned time By compassionate the calibration and ambit of these invaders, we are bigger able to stop them. The calibration of this botheration is vast Every day, bags of argosy cantankerous our oceans with invasive breed hitchhiking on their hulls. Because of this, as abounding as ten thousand breed are estimated to be in alteration at any one time. Assessing the Global Threat of Invasive Species to Marine Biodiversity Once adverse breed become accustomed in abyssal habitats, it can be about absurd to abolish them The best way to abode these invaders is to anticipate their accession or addition in the aboriginal place. This abstraction represents the aboriginal quantitative all-around appraisal of the impacts and causes of abyssal ‘invasive species,’ and evaluates area they are located, how they are transported, and which breed are the a lot of adverse to built-in habitats.

“Everyone in the apple depends on advantageous oceans and coasts for survival. Invasive breed are acutely impacting built-in plants and animals, and are causing cogent bread-and-butter accident at the aforementioned time,” said Stephanie Meeks, acting admiral and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “By compassionate the calibration and ambit of these invaders, we are bigger able to stop them.”

Invasive species are non-native breed that accept been alien into a new landscape, freshwater arrangement or ocean region. Because this new across generally lacks accustomed competitors and predators, the invasive breed tend to displace built-in plants and animals, agitate aliment webs, and adapt axiological accustomed ecology processes.

The bread-and-butter costs of invasive species, including abyssal invaders, can aswell be huge. The U.S. spends $120 billion annually to ascendancy and adjustment accident from the country’s added than 800 invaders. Throughout the world’s oceans, amphibian adverse invasives accident economies by abbreviating fisheries, abuse ships’ hulls, and bottleneck assimilation pipes. Some can even anon appulse animal bloom by causing disease.

The abstraction cites abounding examples of this damage, such as the adjust afraid that was agitated to the Black Sea on a address in the aboriginal 1990s. By agriculture voraciously on angle eggs and zooplankton, they devastated angle populations and disrupted the absolute aliment chain. At its peak, this affliction fabricated up 90% of the weight of all active bacilli in the Black Sea. When the adjust clabber aggression after accomplished the Caspian Sea, it afresh beneath angle populations and larboard the threatened Caspian allowance both athirst and vulnerable. Both of these invasions destroyed bartering fisheries and acquired bank communities to lose bags of jobs.

“The calibration of this botheration is vast,” said Jennifer Molnar, attention scientist at The Nature Conservancy and advance columnist of the study. “Every day, bags of argosy cantankerous our oceans with invasive breed hitchhiking on their hulls. Because of this, as abounding as ten thousand breed are estimated to be in alteration at any one time.”

According to the study, all-embracing shipment and aquaculture represent the above agency of adverse breed addition world-wide, and 80% of all invasives introductions are accidental. Other specific allegation from the abstraction include:
 

Prized for their beefy meat, Pacific oysters accept been transported from Japan to be farmed in bank amnion about the apple back the aboriginal 1900s. Once introduced, they aggressively attach themselves to rocks and accumulation together, binding out added species. In Australia and elsewhere, this fast-growing breed can asphyxiate admired built-in oysters and mussels, affliction bounded fisheries. Caulerpa, a close seaweed that has wreaked calamity in the Mediterranean and in Australia, is transported on the anchors of fishing and recreational boats. It is baneful to abounding angle and spreads rapidly, eliminating built-in seagrass. When a citizenry was apparent in a California anchorage in 2000, defined bare six years and over $4 actor to eradicate the species. Native apricot stocks in Scotland and Scandinavia are accepting decimated by new pathogens, while able acreage apricot are abrasion the abiogenetic animation of agrarian salmon. Each year, up to bisected a actor apricot escape from angle farms in Norway alone. San Francisco Bay, California, is the a lot of invaded amphibian arena on earth. More than bisected of its angle and a lot of of its bottom-dwelling bacilli are not built-in to the Bay, and new breed are accepting alien at an alarming rate.
The study, “Assessing the Global Threat of Invasive Species to Marine Biodiversity,” analyzes the botheration on a all-around calibration by synthesizing advice on 329 amphibian breed and cartoon advice from over 350 abstracts sources. The address is aswell accompanied by a geographically referenced and about accessible database of abyssal invaders that can be acclimated to actuate the a lot of aggressive breed per region, and to accent strategies for preventing added damage.

“Once adverse breed become accustomed in abyssal habitats, it can be about absurd to abolish them,” added Molnar. “The best way to abode these invaders is to anticipate their accession or addition in the aboriginal place.”

The Nature Conservancy is alive as allotment of the Global Invasive Species Programme, a affiliation of four arch all-embracing ecology organizations, to stop added introductions of abyssal invasive breed through pathways such as the acquittal of balance water, which ships backpack for stability, and the bio-fouling of ships hulls, which occurs if amphibian breed hitchhike to new places on the basal of ships. The Conservancy is alive about the apple to admonish policymakers on how to advance blockage strategies at ports and on shipment vessels.

More advice on the address can be begin at www.nature.org/marineinvasions.

The Nature Conservancy is a arch attention alignment alive about the apple to assure ecologically important acreage and amnion for attributes and people. To date, the Conservancy and its added than one actor associates accept been amenable for the aegis of added than 15 actor acreage in the United States and accept helped bottle added than 102 actor acreage in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

New Study Examines System for Reducing Import of Invasive Plants into the U.S.

Implementing Australian Weed Risk Assessment Program in the U.S. Would Save Billions and Reduce Process Time

Arlington, VA (Vocus/PRWEB ) February 29, 2008 -- The invasive bulb screening access acclimated by the U.S. government pales in allegory to added added able and readily-available systems acclimated by countries such as Australia and New Zealand, according to a new Nature Conservancy and University of Florida abstraction appear today.

Countries about the apple accept cogent bread-and-butter interests in preventing the addition of invasive species Implementation of added able invasive bulb screening arrangement in the U.S. is actual feasible, and would go a continued way appear preventing abrogating ecology and animal impacts. The WRA arrangement can be acclimated to analysis all new plants proposed for acceptation and actuate whether or not a bulb should be accustomed access into a country in beneath 24 hours Under the accepted U.S. law, few breed are activated and the action can crop up to eight weeks. The accepted costs and cogent ecology impacts of invasive bulb breed in the U.S. advance that we charge an able blockage affairs for plants now, and this analysis indicates that one is available “Countries about the apple accept cogent bread-and-butter interests in preventing the addition of invasive species,” said Stephanie Meeks, acting admiral and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. “Implementation of added able invasive bulb screening arrangement in the U.S. is actual feasible, and would go a continued way appear preventing abrogating ecology and animal impacts.”

Invasive breed are non-native breed that accept been alien into a new landscape, which generally lacks accustomed competitors and predators, causing the invasive breed to displace built-in plants and animals, agitate aliment webs, and adapt axiological accustomed ecology processes. With added all-around trade, invasive breed are overextension about the apple at an aberrant amount and scale, accidental to one-third of all breed extinctions in the endure 400 years.

The bread-and-butter costs of invasive breed can aswell be huge. Each year invasive breed are estimated to amount the U.S. $120 billion in ascendancy efforts and ecology and bread-and-butter damage. Invasive plants represent over $34 billion of that expense. Yet this amount continues to access as added breed are introduced. For example, carrotwood was alien in Florida as an accessory timberline in the 1960s and advance to a lot of bank south-central counties Florida by the backward 1980s. Although Florida banned the auction of carrotwood in 1999, the accompaniment continues to absorb an boilerplate of $385 per acre to ascendancy this and added invasive breed amid in bank areas.

The analysis appear today in the account Diversity and Distributions activated the authoritative edger accident appraisal arrangement (WRA) in Australia and New Zealand, and assured that WRA is bigger and calmly abbreviation the bread-and-butter and ecology threats of importing invasive weeds. Nature Conservancy scientists are aswell calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to apparatus the WRA in the U.S., and to do so now as the agency is afterlight its bulb apprehension law, accepted as “Q-37.”

“The WRA arrangement can be acclimated to analysis all new plants proposed for acceptation and actuate whether or not a bulb should be accustomed access into a country in beneath 24 hours,” said Doria Gordon, Associate Director of Science for The Nature Conservancy’s Florida Chapter and advance columnist of the paper. “Under the accepted U.S. law, few breed are activated and the action can crop up to eight weeks.”

Further, bread-and-butter appraisal by Notre Dame advisers showed that the WRA was cost-effective afterwards 10 years in Australia and will save that country $1.8 billion (Australian) over 50 years.

Gordon’s abstraction compared the accurateness of the WRA in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, Bonin Islands (Japan), Czech Republic, and Florida. Specific allegation include:
 

Across all of these geographies, non-native plants with acutely adverse impacts on bread-and-butter or ecology systems were accurately predicted 90% of the time. A bulb of alien invasive abeyant is acceptable to be accurately acclimatized or alone over 80% of the time. In contrast, the U.S. has no screening arrangement for plants with alien invasive potential. The WRA could be implemented almost bound and calmly in the U.S. as an antecedent screening apparatus for preventing acceptation of new invaders. Species acute added or a added abundant appraisal will crave added appraisal currently beneath development by USDA, but this aboriginal akin of screening could be implemented now.
The U.S. arrangement and apprehension regulations were developed if plants were alien from alone a few adopted locations. Under the accepted system, beneath than 100 non-parasitic plants are blocked. Other plants new to the U.S. are accustomed actual access into the country. In 2005 alone, added than 2.6 billion alone plants were alien into the U.S.

This around accessible apprenticed access is bereft for today’s globalized barter and fast-paced economy. Recognizing this need, APHIS is currently alteration the agency’s apprehension law, “Q-37,” and chargeless the next accomplish for assessing the accident of alien plants. APHIS’ bulb apprehension law afterlight is a phased 10-year action that began in 2004, yet some deadlines accept already been pushed aback over three years.

“The accepted costs and cogent ecology impacts of invasive bulb breed in the U.S. advance that we charge an able blockage affairs for plants now, and this analysis indicates that one is available,” added Gordon.

The Nature Conservancy is a arch attention alignment alive about the apple to assure ecologically important acreage and amnion for attributes and people. To date, the Conservancy and its added than one actor associates accept been amenable for the aegis of added than 15 actor acreage in the United States and accept helped bottle added than 102 actor acreage in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

Don’t Let Invasive Biofuel Crops Attack Your Country, Warn Top Scientists

The dangers that invasive breed affectation to the apple couldn’t be added serious They are one of the top causes of all-around breed loss, they can abuse livelihoods and animal health, and they amount us billions in ascendancy and acknowledgment efforts. We artlessly cannot acquiesce to angle by and do annihilation in the face of this threat. Prevention is bigger than the cure We charge to stop invasions afore they occur. The biofuel industry is a almost new abstraction so we accept a different befalling to act aboriginal and get advanced of the bold – we mustn’t bandy that away.

Bonn, Germany (Vocus/PRWEB ) May 20, 2008 -- Countries should abstain burying crops for biofuels that angle a top accident of acceptable invasive species, according to a address appear today.

The Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) has articular all the crops currently accepting acclimated or advised for biofuel assembly and ranked them according to the accident they affectation of acceptable invasive species.

The report, Biofuel Crops and Non Native Species: Mitigating the risks of Invasion calls on countries to backpack out accident assessments afore they bulb biofuel crops. It urges governments to use low-risk breed of crops for biofuels and acquaint new controls to administer invasive species.

"The dangers that invasive breed affectation to the apple couldn’t be added serious," says Sarah Simons, Executive Director of GISP. "They are one of the top causes of all-around breed loss, they can abuse livelihoods and animal health, and they amount us billions in ascendancy and acknowledgment efforts. We artlessly cannot acquiesce to angle by and do annihilation in the face of this threat."

It is estimated that the accident from invasive breed costs the apple added than $1.4 abundance annually – 5 percent of the all-around economy. The US abandoned spends $120 billion annually on the ascendancy and impacts of added than 800 invasive breed infestations.

The behemothic reed (Arundo donax), for example, is a proposed biofuel crop from West Asia which is already invasive in locations of North and Central America. Naturally flammable, it increases the likelihood of wildfires – a blackmail to both bodies and built-in breed in places such as California. In South Africa, the behemothic reed is advised a civic botheration as it drinks 2,000 liters of baptize per continuing beat of growth, aggressive baptize aegis for the nation’s growing animal population.

Many of the bulb breed accepting advised for biofuels accept the abeyant to become invasive if alien to new areas, the address warns. Few governments accept able systems in abode to appraise risks of aggression or accommodate them already they occur, and developing countries are the a lot of vulnerable.

"Prevention is bigger than the cure," says Geoffrey Howard, IUCN’s Global Invasive Species Coordinator. "We charge to stop invasions afore they occur. The biofuel industry is a almost new abstraction so we accept a different befalling to act aboriginal and get advanced of the bold – we mustn’t bandy that away."

The African oil approach is addition archetype of the calamity an invasive breed can wreak. It is recommended for biodiesel and has already become invasive in locations of Brazil, axis areas of threatened backwoods from a affluent mix of copse and bulb activity into a akin band of approach leaves.

A affair of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity currently accepting captivated in Bonn, Germany, represents the best befalling in a decade to crop all-around action adjoin invasive species. GISP is calling on assembly to admit the dangers invasive breed could cause and acclaim accident assessments afore biofuel crops are planted. It aswell calls on the accurate association to conduct added desperately-needed analysis into this topic.

For the abounding address amuse visit: http://www.gisp.org

For added information, amuse contact:

 

Sarah Halls, IUCN Media Relations Officer, Tel: +41 22 999 0127; Mobile: +41 79 528 3486; Email: sarah.halls@iucn.org. Cristina Mestre, The Nature Conservancy, Tel: 703-841-8779; Email: cmestre@tnc.org. About GISP
GISP, the Global Invasive Species Programme, is an all-embracing affiliation committed to arrest the all-around blackmail of invasive species. Founded by CABI, IUCN, the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Nature Conservancy, GISP aims to conserve biodiversity and sustain livelihoods by aspersing the advance and appulse of invasive adverse species. www.gisp.org

About our partners:

IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the apple acquisition businesslike solutions to our a lot of acute ambiance and development challenges by acknowledging accurate research; managing acreage projects all over the world; and bringing governments, NGOs, the UN, all-embracing conventions and companies calm to advance policy, laws and best practice.

CABI is a not-for-profit all-embracing alignment aforetime accepted as the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux which now operates artlessly as CABI. The GISP secretariat is hosted by CABI Africa, based in Nairobi. CABI has been alive in invasive breed for about 100 years and is currently alive on 60 invasive plants. www.cabi.org

South African National Biodiversity Institute was accustomed in 2004 through the signing of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10. The Act broadcast the authorization of SANBI's forerunner, the National Botanical Institute to cover responsibilities apropos to the abounding assortment of South Africa's fauna and flora, and complete on the internationally admired programmes in conservation, research, apprenticeship and company casework developed over the accomplished century. www.sanbi.org

The Nature Conservancy is a arch attention alignment alive about the apple to assure ecologically important acreage and amnion for attributes and people. To date, the Conservancy and its added than one actor associates accept been amenable for the aegis of added than 18 actor acreage in the United States and accept helped bottle added than 117 actor acreage in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy Release First-Ever Comprehensive Global Map of Freshwater Systems

The map and associated angle abstracts – a collaborative activity amid World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy -- are featured in the May affair of the account BioScience.

Washington, D.C. (Vocus/PRWEB ) May 8, 2008 -- Over a decade of plan and contributions by added than 200 arch attention scientists accept produced a first-ever absolute map and database of the assortment of activity in the world’s freshwater ecosystems. The map and associated angle abstracts – a collaborative activity amid World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy -- are featured in the May affair of the account BioScience.

"Freshwater Ecoregions of the World” divides the world’s freshwater systems into 426 audible attention units, abounding of which are affluent in breed but beneath accretion burden from animal citizenry growth, ascent baptize use, and abode alteration. The absolute map and database (www.feow.org) are basic accoutrement for conservationists aggravating to save the world’s freshwater ecosystems.

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World Freshwater ecosystems are the atomic advised locations of our accustomed apple – they are like all-inclusive adopted libraries, awash with information 'Freshwater Ecoregions of the World' allows scientists and non-scientists akin to accretion a bigger compassionate of this apple and advice adviser efforts to save these systems and breed afore they are lost. Our abridgement of ability of freshwater breed has hindered our efforts to conserve rivers, lakes and wetlands about the world. Simply accepting a map that shows areas affluent in freshwater breed will advice us set attention priorities and activate to put a face to these different and capital species, which plan to accumulate our freshwater ecosystems breath and running. Among the highlights:

 

This is the aboriginal abstraction to abridge abstracts on freshwater breed -- including fish, amphibians, crocodiles and turtles -- for about all of the world’s civil baptize habitats Almost 18,000 breed accept been mapped and placed into freshwater ecoregions.* This breed account includes 13,400 fish, 4,000 amphibians, 300 turtles, and 20 crocodile breed and their relatives. About bisected of all freshwater angle are endemic, or begin in alone one ecoregion. Portions of above rivers such as the Amazon, Congo, Ganges, Yangtze, and the rivers and streams of the American Southeast were articular as outstanding for affluent angle populations and top endemism (species begin boilerplate else). In addition, several abate systems that had not been articular in antecedent all-around assessments, such as Congo’s Malebo Pool, the Amazon’s western piedmont, and Cuba and Hispaniola, were bent to accept top numbers of ancient angle species. Excessive baptize use for agriculture, industry, bubbler and livestock are agreement freshwater ecosystems in 55 ecoregions beneath top stress, aggressive the breed and habitats. In addition 59 ecoregions added than 50 percent of their across has already been adapted from accustomed habitats to acreage and burghal areas.
"Freshwater ecosystems are the atomic advised locations of our accustomed apple – they are like all-inclusive adopted libraries, awash with information,” said World Wildlife Fund’s Robin Abell, who headed the study. “'Freshwater Ecoregions of the World' allows scientists and non-scientists akin to accretion a bigger compassionate of this apple and advice adviser efforts to save these systems and breed afore they are lost.”

Freshwater habitats abutment added than 100,000 breed and accommodate bodies with analytical casework such as bubbler baptize and fisheries. Yet freshwater habitats and breed are a allotment of the a lot of imperiled in the apple and accept generally been larboard out of all-embracing attention planning.

Until now there were no abstracts on all-around freshwater biodiversity actinic in a way that was advantageous to conservation. Collected analysis tended to focus alone on above rivers or baddest hotspots, abrogation out abounding added freshwater systems. Plus, advice was not simple to acceptance and search. As a result, it has been difficult to accretion a absolutely absolute compassionate of patterns of freshwater biodiversity above the globe.

The 'Freshwater Ecoregions of the World' (FEOW) activity was created to abode this need. This all-encompassing and calmly searchable ability now provides acceptance to advice that can advice ensure freshwater systems are able-bodied understood, answer and protected.

The Nature Conservancy’s Carmen Revenga said 'Freshwater Ecoregions of the World' could not accept appear at a added important time as antagonism for freshwater assets increases about the world. “Our abridgement of ability of freshwater breed has hindered our efforts to conserve rivers, lakes and wetlands about the world. Simply accepting a map that shows areas affluent in freshwater breed will advice us set attention priorities and activate to put a face to these different and capital species, which plan to accumulate our freshwater ecosystems breath and running.”

*A freshwater ecoregion is a ample across encompassing one or added freshwater systems that contains a audible aggregation of accustomed freshwater communities and species. The freshwater species, dynamics, and ecology altitude aural a accustomed ecoregion are added agnate to anniversary added than to those of surrounding ecoregions and calm anatomy a attention unit.

Known in the United States as World Wildlife Fund and accustomed common by its panda logo, WWF leads all-embracing efforts to assure endangered breed and their habitats and to conserve the assortment of activity on Earth. Now in its fifth decade, WWF, the all-around attention organization, works in added than 100 countries about the world. Additional advice may be begin at www.worldwildlife.org.

The Nature Conservancy is a arch attention alignment alive about the apple to assure ecologically important acreage and amnion for attributes and people. To date, the Conservancy and its added than one actor associates accept been amenable for the aegis of added than 18 actor acreage in the United States and accept helped bottle added than 117 actor acreage in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the Web at www.nature.org.

Contacts:
WWF: Lee Poston, 202-299-6442 or lee.poston @ wwfus.org
TNC: Cristina Mestre, 703-841-8779 or cmestre @ tnc.org

Kids' Eco-Adventure Game Lands National Retail Distribution

Seattle-Based Xeko Expands Distribution by over 500%

Seattle, WA -- With the ambiance a allotment of the hottest capacity this year, the affair of endangered breed has aswell appear to the forefront. Indicative of the nation's acute interest, Xeko, an eco-adventure trading agenda bold advised to advise kids about endangered breed and the environment, has landed its aboriginal civic retail administration aperture and is now accessible at Barnes & Noble food throughout the US.

Xeko's amateur acquiesce for accouchement to apprentice about the plight of endangered breed from above the globe, the habitats they abide in, and the ecology threats to each. Instead of monsters and fantasy like added trading agenda games, Xeko takes its cues from attributes and science, casting absolute abominable breed as the heroes and basing bold play on ecosystem relationships.

"This is a huge milestone--adding these food increases our administration by over 500%, and Xeko is now able to ability even added admirers above the country," says Amy Tucker, admiral and co-founder of Matter Group, architect of Xeko. "We apperceive that to aftereffect lasting, absolute change for our planet, we have to appoint children, the next bearing of eco-leaders."

With the accession of Barnes & Noble to its agenda of retail outlets including Whole Foods, Amazon, and a array of specialty food and zoos above the country, Xeko (MSRP $19.99 - $29.99) will be accessible at added than 1,400 retail outlets above the country. The aggregation is aswell demography its business to a new akin with added areas of operation; in the advancing months Xeko will be ablution a new online aperture for the bold as able-bodied as a band of eco-plush toys--called Xeko Pals--featuring assorted endangered breed depicted in the game.

This summer aswell marks the absolution of Mission: China, Xeko's fourth bold collection, which coincides with the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. As with the antecedent award-winning sets, Xeko captures kids' absorption by accumulation two things they love: trading agenda amateur and animals. Every copy appearance arresting bulb and abominable breed from one of Earth's 34 biodiversity hotspots. Conservation International, Xeko's non-profit accomplice and the afflatus abaft Xeko, receives 4% of net bold and costly sales in abutment of its plan to save the hotspots.

About Matter Group, LLC - Matter Group's mission is to advance sustainability by creating and business world-class articles and media that absorb and affect humans to accomplish a difference. The company's success is abstinent by their triple-bottom line: profitability, ecology impact, and amusing contribution. The Seattle-based aggregation launched the Xeko bold on Earth Day in 2006 and is currently alive on projects to extend the Xeko ball acreage into television, film, and merchandise.