Aliens Newsletter - ISSG

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Coordinator Piero Genovesi, ISSG Chair, ISPRA Editors Piero Genovesi and Riccardo Scalera Front Cover Photo Oxyura jamaicensis (Ruddy duck). © Photo by Mark Hulme The following people contributed to this issue Shyama Pagad, Carola Warner The newsletter is produced twice a year and is available in English. To be added to the mailing list, or to download the electronic version, visit: www.issg.org/newsletter.html#Aliens Please direct all submissions and other editorial correspondence to Riccardo Scalera scalera.riccardo@gmail.com Published by ISPRA - Rome, Italy Graphics design Franco Iozzoli, ISPRA Aliens: The Invasive Species Bulletin Newsletter of the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group Coordination Daria Mazzella, ISPRA - Publishing Section Administration Olimpia Girolamo, ISPRA – Publishing Section Distribution Michelina Porcarelli, ISPRA – Publishing Section Printer CSR - Via di Pietralata, 157 - 00158 Roma Phone 064182113 (r.a.) - Fax 064506671 CONTENTS ISSN 1173-5988 Issue Number 29, 2010 Editorial pg. 1 News from the ISSG pg. 2 ...And other News pg. 3 Conference on Island Invasives; eradication and management held in Auckland, NZ pg. 6 ‘Helping Islands Adapt’ Workshop pg. 7 American Beaver eradication in the southern tip of South America: main challenges of an ambitious project pg. 9 The Eradication of Ruddy Ducks in the United Kingdom pg. 17 Managing Biodiversity Risks of Biofuels – Biological Invasions pg. 25 Biosecurity in the New Bioeconomy: Threats and Opportunities. pg. 29 Introduced rats on Guafo Island (Chile) and their potential impact on Sooty Shearwater Puffinus griseus pg. 27 Eradication of Invasive Mynas from islands. Is it possible? pg. 25 “Field IT for East Africa”: training young African scientists in Lake Naivasha (Kenya) pg. 48 “Beaufort Scale” for bioinvasion impacts pg. 52 Giant African Land Snail (Achatina fulica): new entry on a list of allochtonous mollusc species in Slovakia pg. 55 New publications pg. 57 Events pg. 59
Editorial An article published in Science last 30 April 2010, by Butchart and colleagues, has compiled over 30 indicators measuring different aspects of biodiversity. It, has shown that there is no evidence of any reduction in the rate of decline of biodiversity and that, on the contrary, pressures continue to increase. These results confirm, with a solid science-based assessment of the available data, that the 2010 target has not been met, and that the efforts put in place by the world leaders to preserve the diversity of life have been largely inadequate. The Science article stated that biological invasions have increased in Europe by 76% in the last 40 years are increasing and invasive alien species - as stressed by the paper by McGeoch and co-authors published earlier this year in Diversity and Distribution (16, 95-108) – are indeed a major driver of biodiversity loss, that in many cases strongly affect the conservation status of threatened species. Both of these recent articles report on some encouraging developments: 83% of the world’s countries have signed international agreements to tackle invasive alien species, and 55% have adopted national legislation to control and/or limit the spread and impact of biological invasions. There are increasing cases of successful conservation actions, as in the case of the black stilt in New Zealand, whose extinction has been prevented through a combination of predator control, habitat restoration and translocation programs. As a result of active conservation, several threatened vertebrate species have improved their conservation status sufficiently to be down-listed to a lower category of threat on the IUCN Red List. It must be stressed that these positive outcomes are in most cases the consequence of successful eradication programs that have removed the predators affecting species of conservation concern. Eradication is in fact one of the most effective tools we have to respond to the continuing decrease in species’ numbers, also, the significant advances in eradication science that have been gathered in the past decades. The contributions presented at the international conference on “Island Invasives; eradication and management”, held in Auckland, New Zealand in early February (see the article in this issue), clearly demonstrate these advances. The number of eradications targeting several species simultaneously has much increased in recent years; the risk of undesired effects of eradications have been minimised, and adaptive implementation of eradications has prevented, or rapidly mitigated, potential unexpected chain reactions. Furthermore, we are now able to target not only vertebrates, but also plants and terrestrial invertebrates, and to remove invasive species from large areas, even on the mainland. But management of invasive species is not the only tool we have in our hands. The experiences gathered in several areas of the world have also shown that stringent biosecurity policies can prevent a large part of invasions, protecting not only the environment, but also economies. For example, if Australia remains free of the varroa mite – a pest that has caused the collapse of the honey industry in many countries of the world - this is likely due to the strict biosecurity policy adopted in that country. A large proportion of the economic losses to the European economy caused by invasive species could be prevented with stricter import regulations. As Stuart Butchart said, commenting on the article published in Science (of which he was the primary author), “2010 will not be the year that biodiversity loss was halted, but it needs to be the year in which we start taking the issue seriously and substantially increase our efforts to take care of what is left of our planet”. The efforts to tackle biological invasions will be a crucial test of a renewed global attention to the problems of the life on earth we all hope to see at the end of 2010. Piero Genovesi, ISSG Chair General disclaimer All material appearing in Aliens is the work of individual authors, whose names are listed at the foot of each article. Contributions are not refereed, as this is a newsletter and not an academic journal. Ideas and comments in Aliens are not intended in any way to represent the view of IUCN, SSC or the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) or sponsors, unless specifically stated to the contrary. The designation of geographical entities do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IUCN, SSC, ISSG or sponsors concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Aliens 1
Page 4 and 5: News from the ISSG The Invasive Spe
Page 6 and 7: sity. The document was signed in a
Page 8 and 9: Conference on Island Invasives; era
Page 10 and 11: • Prioritising the issue of invas
Page 12 and 13: invasion of North American beaver (
Page 14 and 15: Figure 4. Beaver effects in Tierra
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Page 18 and 19: Parkes J, Paulson J, Donlan J, Camp
Page 20 and 21: Figure 3. NARD Male Photo: Mark Hul
Page 22 and 23: ut that control at a larger scale w
Page 24 and 25: Ruddy Ducks in Europe - the current
Page 26 and 27: Heredia B, Rose L & Painter M (eds.
Page 28 and 29: workshop. This was held at the offi
Page 30 and 31: These are: 1. Follow a precautionar
Page 32 and 33: development of new sustainable crop
Page 34 and 35: on footprint and regional environme
Page 36 and 37: Introduced rats on Guafo Island (Ch
Page 38 and 39: Contrary to the New Zealand and Aus
Page 40 and 41: Gaze P (2000) The response of a col
Page 42 and 43: Eradication of invasive Mynas from
Page 44 and 45: Working strategy The working strate
Page 46 and 47: • FT - Funnel Trap. A rectangular
Page 48 and 49: irds are in the segment between 83,
Page 50 and 51: “Field IT for East Africa”: tra
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tensified predation by M. salmoides
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“Beaufort Scale” for bioinvasio
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ing of the level of bioinvasion imp
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References: Dvorˇák L, Čejka T (
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areas, which combine native and exo
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Further information can be obtained
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