Taxonomy term

invasive species

Grounding Asian jumping worms

To tell the difference between a regular earthworm and an Asian jumping worm, pick it up. An earthworm will likely just lay there, perhaps curling gently around a finger, but a jumping worm will thrash around violently until it jumps out of your grasp. Researchers are looking at how this invasive species is altering soil in Wisconsin, where the worms have been found in growing numbers since 2013.

26 Mar 2019

Opportunist organisms rafted across the Pacific on plastic

Since World War II, fiberglass and plastic — which are stronger, lighter and require less maintenance than wood — have become the materials of choice for coastal infrastructure like docks. An unforeseen consequence of this transition, however, is that when structures built from these durable materials break free from their moorings and drift out to sea, they can serve as resilient rafts for opportunistic organisms. 

21 Nov 2017

Nonnative plants not a problem in Britain

In many places in the world, nonnative plants are epidemic, outcompeting local flora for space and resources and sometimes leading to extinctions of native plants. But a new study finds that, in Britain at least, foreign plants don’t seem to be negatively impacting the natives after all.
 
07 Aug 2015

The rise of community remote sensing

If you ask someone involved in community remote sensing to define the emerging field, the most likely response will be a chuckle followed by “That’s a hard question to answer…”

21 Mar 2011