Search results for "INVASIVE SPECIES"

Nowe stanowisko Oxycarenus lavaterae (Fabricius, 1787) (Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea: Oxycarenidae) na Górnym Śląsku / New record of Oxycarenus lavaterae …

2022

This note presents a new record of the invasive species Oxycarenus lavaterae in Upper Silesia, Poland.

What does happen when an insect pest follows its host plant and viceversa?

2015

Invasive species are usually well known but only make up a small percentage of the European’s alien plants and insects. The ways these exotic species interact with our natural and cultural heritage are very complex and even some species considered invasive had and could have positive aspects on some European landscape and culture. A close look at the complicated relationship between non-native and native plants and insects in the Mediterranean areas reveals some unexpected twists in the story. Here are some cases of when aliens can threaten our cultural heritage or being part of it

An invasive species may be better than none: invasive signal and native noble crayfish have similar community effects

2014

14 pages; International audience; Human activities have resulted in the decline of native crayfish and promoted the spread of invasive crayfish species in European fresh waters, threatening ecosystem structure and functioning. We compared effects of native noble crayfish (Astacus astacus), invasive signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) and of the absence of crayfish on leaf litter breakdown and invertebrate prey density and biomass in stream ecosystems. In microcosm experiments, invertebrate shredder density was significantly reduced by crayfish presence but similarly affected by the two crayfish species. While crayfish did not directly influence leaf litter breakdown, their presence r…

Making smart use of woody alien plants

It is unquestionable that some alien woody plant species are a major issue for biodiversity conservation. However, being alien species generally adapted to warmer conditions than autochthonous/local ones, they could be particularly suited to cope with the new environmental and climatic conditions that are also forecasted in the coming decades in Sicily. This poses an issue that is not easy to deal with, whether trying to use these species for the advantages they could bring, for instance in the new reforestation activities, while avoiding them becoming a serious problem for biodiversity conservation in natural and seminatural areas. Here, we present three study cases of non-native tree spec…

The spreading of the invasive italian wall lizard on Vulcano, the last island inhabited by the critically endangered aeolian wall lizard

2018

[EN] The Aeolian Wall Lizard (Podarcis raffoneae) is an endemic species of the Aeolian Archipelago of Italy (Mediterranean Sea). Its distribution is limited to three islets and two relict populations on a relatively large island: Vulcano (a population on the summit of Gran Cratere volcano and another on Capo Grosso promontory). The critically endangered Aeolian Wall Lizard is threatened by the introduction of the Italian Wall Lizard (Podarcis siculus), which successfully competes and hybridizes with the endemic lizard. The invasive lizard is widespread on Vulcano, although the literature does not provide the exact distribution. Our first aim was updating the distribution of the Italian Wall…

Identification, cloning and environmental factors modulation of a αβ defensin from the lessepsian invasive mussel Brachidontes pharaonis (Bivalvia: M…

2015

International audience; Immunological effectors of invasive species playing a role in addressing new colonization are still poorly studied. In the present study the cDNA sequence of the defensin from a Lessepsian invasive species, the Red Sea mussel Brachidontes pharaonis, was cloned using RACE method. Defensins are a class of widely known antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), oligopeptides with a broad spectrum of targeted organisms ranging from viruses to parasites. Analysis of BpDef sequence (262 bp) revealed the presence of an ORF coding for 81 amino acids. The full-length amino acid sequence showed the highest similarity to antimicrobial peptides MGD1 and MGD2 sequence from Mytilus galloprovi…

Sublethal Pyrethroid Insecticide Exposure Carries Positive Fitness Effects Over Generations in a Pest Insect

2019

AbstractStress tolerance and adaptation to stress are known to facilitate species invasions. Many invasive species are also pests and insecticides are used to control them, which could shape their overall tolerance to stress. It is well-known that heavy insecticide usage leads to selection of resistant genotypes but less is known about potential effects of mild sublethal insecticide usage. We studied whether stressful, sublethal pyrethroid insecticide exposure has within-generational and/or maternal transgenerational effects on fitness-related traits in the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) and whether maternal insecticide exposure affects insecticide tolerance of offspring…

Underutilized resources for studying the evolution of invasive species during their introduction, establishment, and lag phases

2010

The early phases of biological invasions are poorly understood. In particular, during the introduction, establishment, and possible lag phases, it is unclear to what extent evolution must take place for an introduced species to transition from established to expanding. In this study, we highlight three disparate data sources that can provide insights into evolutionary processes associated with invasion success: biological control organisms, horticultural introductions, and natural history collections. All three data sources potentially provide introduction dates, information about source populations, and genetic and morphological samples at different time points along the invasion trajector…

Cryptic invasion in Southern Europe: The case of Ferrissia fragilis (Pulmonata: Ancylidae) Mediterranean populations

2011

Four populations of the North American ancylid gastropod Ferrissia fragilis have been found in Southern Italy, thus expanding the known Eurasian distribution range of this invasive gastropod to the Mediterranean area. Both mitochondrial markers used for the molecular identification of the sampled specimens (16S and COI) showed a modest to absent haplotypic diversity in the studied Ferrissia populations from Europe and Asia, and their perfect identity with some of the haplotypes observed in North American F. fragilis populations. In the light of the scarce molecular diversity observed in the whole Palaearctic area and of the growing evidences for the ongoing spreading of the species in Europ…

Phytophthora Diversity in a Sentinel Arboretum and in a Nature Reserve Area

2020

Most soilborne Phytophthora species are invasive plant pathogens and nursery plants for transplanting are considered a primary pathway for the introduction of exotic Phytophthora species into plant diversity conservation areas and sites. As a preliminary step toward investigating this subject, we compared the diversity of Phytophthora in the protected natural area Complesso Speleologico Villasmundo S. Alfio Nature Reserve (NR) (Melilli, Siracusa) and the botanical garden (BG) of the University of Catania (Catania), in eastern Sicily (southern Italy). Sampling was carried out during the spring of 2019. Overall 29 rhizosphere soil samples were collected, 17 from different types of vegetation …