Weekend Blog Blogging

The past week in invasive species posts, from elsewhere in the blogosphere:

• Words & Pictures has an interesting post about American skunks discovered in the wild in the UK. I would think they'd be pretty low on the pet totem pole, but apparently not.
• Other bloggers had some fun with this ISW post about praying as a control method for invasive species. At bogalusa, you can read a great little poem. Drew at Drew's Brave New World suggests a new powerful acronym: WWKD (What Would Kudzu Do?). Someone put that on a bumper sticker, stat! :-)
• Fisher at the Luxury Gardens blog is a garden designer, but the questions he gets most frequently are about how to get rid of invasive plants.
• That Fish Blog has a post about lionfish, which they sell at That Fish Place but don't want you to ever release into the wild.

Words Of Pray

There's an interesting little piece in today's Christian Science Monitor about an invasive species control method that I must admit I have never considered: prayer. The author of the article notes that global efforts to manage invasive species are stalled by politics and by social issues, and goes on to suggest praying as something that can be done right now and that could inspire folks to come up with potential solutions and lead to greater cooperation. Sort of like brainstorming with God I guess. The article comes complete with a parable about a farmer with an enemy who intentionally introduces a weed into his wheat field.

I have to admit, the idea of people praying for a solution to invasive species problems intrigues me. I would have guessed this issue would be much further down on the prayer totem pole, somewhere below praying for an end to global warming.

P.S. - I know you Pharyngula pholks are out there. Be kind, rewind.

Kvetch and Release

The New York Times had an interesting article about invasive fish in their "Other Sports" section this past weekend. It discusses several different species introduced in the U.S. and how state and federal agencies are trying to cope with their spread. Particularly intriguing was the section about the releasing of non-native fish into the wild by people observing religious rituals or attempting to establish wild populations for food...and by "people" the reporter means "foreigners." In fact, the article notes that federal wildlife officials see this as a "growing problem."

But then in the very next paragraph:

“There’s a lot of anecdotal information that this goes on,” said Greg Conover, the chairman of the Asian Carp Workgroup for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. “There’s an effort to reach consumers with brochures in Chinese and other languages, but the cultural barriers are there, and more outreach is needed if we are to change behavior.”

Hmm...anecdotal information like the Times is printing, perhaps? The article goes on to point out several cases of invasive and non-native fish and crustaceans being sold in ethnic markets, but this in itself is certainly not evidence of intentional releases. Educational outreach to teach people about the invasive species they know and eat is not in itself a bad thing, as long as the target audience doesn't feel it's being stereotyped. For a good example of an educational seafood pamphlet, check out MIT Sea Grant's product - they did a nice job with the English version of their seafood pamphlet (and probably with the other languages, but I can't read any of them - can you?).

Slip and Sliders

From The Korea Times comes this report on the invasion of the American red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) in Korea. The turtles were imported into Korea from the late 1970s until they were banned in 2001. By that time over 6 million of them had been brought in to the country, first as part of a religious ritual (see this previous blog entry for a similar story from Hong Kong) and later as pets. They are now taking over many freshwater habitats, where they consume massive quantities of plant material over their 20-year life span. The article also briefly discusses other invasive species in Korea, the majority of them from America.

Thanks to a member of the ALIENS-L listserver for posting a link to this story. The importation of red-eared sliders is also banned in Europe.

But officer, I LOVE my camphor tree!

In a story that would make residents of Palm Beach County cringe, the peculiarly named Natal Witness is reporting that private landowners in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa are under siege by "plant police." The police are patrolling every inch of the town, in many cases demanding that certain invasive plants be removed from gardens. Citizens, who face fines or jail time if they flout the law, are coming up with various excuses for not removing the plants, including cost, sentiment, and even religion.

Culture vs. Ecology

From Yahoo! News comes this article about Buddhists in Hong Kong, and the unintended consequences of one their religious practices. Many who follow Buddhism believe that they are morally bound to free any trapped animal, and the act of doing so will increase health and well-being. Buddhists in Hong Kong will often buy animals from the markets and then release them into the wild. This is so common that there are entrepreneurs who trap common wild animals, such as sparrows, sell them to people, and then recapture them once they are released. Unfortunately, this religious practice can have unintended consequences. One is that well-intentioned Buddhists sometimes release animals into the wrong habitat, where the animals cannot survive. Another is that non-native animals, including turtles and frogs from North America, are becoming established in the wild, threatening native Asian species.