Saturday, November 23, 2002

Shoo Fushou!

As reported in the People's Daily, researchers and government officials in China are calling for stricter regulations governing the introduction of non-native species, following two high profile cases of invading non-native species. The Fushou snail (I think the article is referring to the golden apple snail Pomacea canaliculata, but I am not positive) and the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), both intentionally introduced South American natives, have invaded aquatic ecosystems in China, causing environmental and economic damage, and evading attempts to control them. While in America we don't often hear about invasive species in Asian countries, it turns out that many of them are actually native to our part of the world. You can read a bit more about invasive species in China by clicking here.

Thanks to a member of the ALIENS-L listerserver for posting the link to this article.

No comments: