Interesting invasive species shots recently posted to Flickr...
Bridal creeper in Australia.
Originally uploaded by Mundoo
Asian shore crab in Connecticut.
Originally uploaded by Ken-ichi
Nice shot of a spotted turtle dove (Streptopelia chinensis) in a park in Australia. As its scientific name indicates, this species is native to China, but it has been introduced all over the world, from California to New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia.
Last week on Flickr I happened upon a nice shot of an American robin dining on the fruits of the invasive Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum, also known as "popcorn tree"). A quick note to the photographer led me to a whole set of his shots of this tree, including several amazing ones of birds, such as the Pileated woodpecker shown here. Be sure to scroll down this page to view the photos and read more about Chinese tallow.
Thanks to Dixie Native for giving me permission to display this photo and for pointing me to his other shots.
A gallery of strange and beautiful photos signifying death - images of ash trees attacked by the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis):
(Thanks to sassycrafter for posting this photo under a Creative Commons license.)
(Thanks to Fordan for sharing this photo under a CC license.)
Have you ever found a weird plant or animal in Hawaii and desperately wanted to know what it was? The Bishop Museum may be able to quench your thirst for knowledge with "Ask a Bishop Museum Scientist," a forum on the photo-sharing website Flickr. You can post photos or descriptions of insect pests or plants or animals that seem not to belong on the Hawaiian islands, and a real biologist will weigh in on the identification, along with information about whether the organisms are native or introduced and their history on the islands. While what gets posted seems to be a mix of native and non-native species, this is likely to be a valuable "Citizen Scientist" tool for spotting new potential invaders and tracking recent introductions. If you are not familiar with Flickr, a Yahoo! site that is free to join, the Bishop Museum provides instructions on how to participate here. And of course, this post would be remiss without mentioning some of the other great Flickr identification forums, all stocked with knowledgable folks: ID Please, What plant is that? and Bird Identification Help Group.
Tip of the virtual hat to KHNL8 TV for posting about this great resource.
As with many tropical species, this plant is ridiculously showy, both in flower and fruit. Our invasives here in New England really cannot compete :-).
Thanks to Donna62 for sharing this photo under a Creative Commons license.
Thanks to esagor for sharing this photo under a Creative Commons license. Do click over to his photo page to read more about the negative impacts of non-native earthworms.
Do check out the rest of maggie's photography, if you are into plants (like I am) you will find it quite nice. Bonus points to her for sharing these photos under a Creative Commons license!
An African Calla lily, Zantedeschia aethiopica invading Berowra Valley Regional Park in Australia. Invasive Calla lilies!
invasive arum
Originally uploaded by petrichor
Thanks to petrichor for posting this photo to Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) hanging out in a wetland reserve in Singapore.
