Coasts' best protection from bioinvaders falling short
Invasive species have hitchhiked to the U.S. on cargo ships for centuries, but the method U.S. regulators most rely on to keep them out is not equally effective across coasts. Ecologists from the...
View ArticleSmithsonian NEMESIS tracks marine invaders online
Mitten crabs, zebra mussels and rock vomit: These and hundreds of other non-native species have invaded coastal regions throughout the United States, often causing dramatic changes to coastal...
View ArticleFighting ecological invaders efficiently
Siemens is using a special water-treatment technique to make ship traffic more environmentally friendly. By disinfecting the ballast water in ships, a system named Sicure protects marine environments...
View ArticleHome aquarium species a potential threat to California waters
(Phys.org)—Well-intentioned children and aquarium hobbyists seeking to "free" their pet fish down a toilet bowl or into a local waterway may inadvertently be contributing to the threat of invasive...
View ArticleNew requirements for ballast water dumped by ships
(AP)—The Environmental Protection Agency has issued new requirements for cleansing ballast water dumped from ships, which scientists believe has brought invasive species to U.S. waters that damage...
View ArticleUsing sound to protect aquatic life
The large cargo ships that steam daily into Newark Bay unload more than the colorful containers stacked on deck - from their holds they also can release millions of gallons of water teeming with tiny...
View Article'Dirty dozen' invasive species threaten UK
Parts of the UK are at greater risk of invasion by non-native aquatic species than previously thought, according to new research. The first to include human factors in models used to predict where...
View ArticleResearchers calculate the global highways of invasive marine species
Globalisation, with its ever increasing demand for cargo transport, has inadvertently opened the flood gates for a new, silent invasion. New research has mapped the most detailed forecast to date for...
View ArticleA fast fish with a huge impact: Major changes to the Danube ecosystem
Globalization is breaking down barriers—also for plants and animals on the lookout for new homes. Rivers are also changing, in particular through the introduction of non-native species, often brought...
View ArticleGlobal change: Stowaways threaten fisheries in the Arctic
Just think of the warty comb jelly or sea walnut, as it is also known. It has caused tremendous damage to fisheries in the Black Sea after arriving in ballast water from its original habitat along the...
View ArticleAvoiding alien marine invaders
Picture a young man seated on the deck of an old wooden sailing ship, a whaling vessel made of white oak, yellow pine and hemlock, built in 1841, the last of its kind. He is reading—what else?—"Moby...
View ArticleStowaway species threaten biodiversity
In the early 1980s, the North American comb jellyfish quit its Atlantic home, hid away in the belly of a cargo ship and headed for the Black Sea.
View ArticleBritain on brink of freshwater species 'invasion' from south east Europe
Five of the most high-risk freshwater invaders from the Ponto-Caspian region around Turkey and Ukraine are now in Britain - including the quagga mussel, confirmed just two weeks ago on 1 October in the...
View ArticleRobots take over inspection of ballast tanks on ships
A new robot for inspecting ballast water tanks on board ships is being developed by a Dutch-German partnership including the University of Twente. The robot is able to move independently along rails...
View ArticleWastewater discharges into the Pacific affecting fish, marine mammals and humans
According to a study by the University of Colima (UCOL), discharges of wastewater to the sea are responsible for the growth of algae that produce certain toxins that could be harmful to humans. They...
View ArticleReport: Tests of ballast water treatment systems are flawed
Government-sanctioned tests of equipment designed to cleanse ship ballast water of invasive species are seriously flawed because they don't determine whether the systems will remove microbes that cause...
View ArticleShip ballast dumps around Australia climbing increasing risk of invasive...
(Phys.org)—A small team of math and biological researchers with the University of Adelaide, has found that the amount of ballast water being dumped into the waters around Australia more than doubled...
View ArticleCarbon-sequestering ocean plants may cope with climate changes over the long run
A year-long experiment on tiny ocean organisms called coccolithophores suggests that the single-celled algae may still be able to grow their calcified shells even as oceans grow warmer and more acidic...
View ArticleTreating ships' ballast water: filtration preferable to disinfection
Untreated ballast water discharge from ships can spread living organisms and even pathogens across the world thereby introducing non-native or invasive species into the local environment. Scientists at...
View ArticleCourt orders EPA to revise ship ballast dumping regulations
A federal appeals court ordered the government Monday to rewrite its regulations on ballast water discharges from ships, one of the leading culprits in the spread of invasive species across U.S....
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