Effective management of invasive species depends on rapid detection and control
- Belinda Gallardo
The first to include human factors in models used to predict where invasive species will arrive and spread, the study shows the Thames, Anglian and Humber river basins are most vulnerable. The findings, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology today, should help improve control of invasive species in the UK.
The researchers, Dr Belinda Gallardo and Dr David Aldridge from the University of Cambridge's Department of Zoology, focused on the 'dirty dozen' – a group of high-risk invasive aquatic plants and animals. Some, like the killer shrimp (Dikerogammarus villosus) and the bloody red mysid (Hemimysis anomala) are already in UK but have yet to spread. Others, such as the Asian clam (Corbicula fluminalis) and the marmokrebs, a crayfish (Procambarus fallax) may not yet have arrived.
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Image: Red swamp crayfish
Credit: David Aldridge
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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