Monday, June 22, 2026

invasive species

Animal behaviorCitiesClimateEnvironmental Science
Jessica Espinosa

Space Invaders? Exotic Bees in the Urban Landscape

One up and coming target for bee conservation has been the urban landscape, as some recent findings have indicated that cities can maintain diverse bee communities. Though on the surface these findings seem promising for bee conservation, many of these studies do not actually address whether this is a positive thing for native bees. One group of scientists decided to delve further into this topic by looking at the effects of urbanization on bee species. Specifically, they wanted to find out whether exotic bees, including the European honeybee, were found more abundantly in cities and other urban areas than in rural communities and how their presence affected native bees.

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Environmental Science
Riley Lovejoy

Invasive Species Eradication: Prioritizing Efforts and Understanding Costs

Invasive predators can have major impacts on native prey species. Eradication, if possible, can help native species rebound, but many invasion scenarios are complex and include multiple invasive predators. How do we decide which species to target first? While such decisions can be difficult, recent theoretical work has shed light on the most effective strategies.

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Environmental Science
John Foster

Can a newly invasive tick spread Lyme disease?

As spring arrives, animals of all shapes and sizes, native or invasive, come out from sheltering over winter. Unfortunately, this also includes pests that we might not be so excited to see again, including those that spread disease such as mosquitoes and ticks. Lyme disease is the most prevalent tick-borne disease in the United States, and spread by native black-legged ticks. However, since 2017 there has been an invasive tick expanding into Lyme disease territory, but the question of whether these invasive ticks can spread Lyme disease remains unanswered.

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Environmental Science
Kevin Aviles Rodriguez

Invader in red: the impacts of the red-eared slider turtle across the globe

I’ve always been a big fan of animals. I love visiting pet shops and looking at all the cool animals. However, movement of animals via the pet trade has resulted in the introduction of exotic wildlife to many ecosystems globally. A particularly widespread invader is the red-eared slider turtle. Read on to find out how these invaders in red have spread and whether policy has been effective in controlling them.

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EcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Brianne Palmer

What Smokey the Bear didn’t know about invasive species

Fires are increasing across the United States and researchers are looking to weed out the one of the culprits — invasive grasses. Using information from fires and non-native grass invasion across the country, researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst set out to determine if invasive grasses increase the number of fires across the United States. Of the twelve grass species analyzed, 66% increased fire frequency, adding another layer to the complexity of managing wildfires. As individuals we can help halt this “grass-fire cycle” by reducing the spread of invasive grasses and human-caused sparks.

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EcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Jessica Espinosa

Spotting the Shy Guy – Why Collaboration With Local Indigenous People Can Be An Asset to Conservation Management

A recent Australian study highlights the importance of including local and indigenous people in conservation research. While examining mitigation of lizard population declines, scientists stumbled upon a surprising finding about how researchers’ cultural differences can affect fieldwork and experimental outcomes.

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ClimateEnvironmental Science
Whitney Kroschel

Mosquitoes in Winter (what the..?)

In many regions witnessing a mosquito in winter is common. Though many mosquitoes die off when temperatures get too cold outside, many of them don’t. It all depends on the species; and with warming climates, we can expect to see a lot more of them in the coming decades.

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CitiesEcosystemsEnvironmental ScienceToxicology
Lauren Bonatakis

It’s all in the genes: how water pollution keeps silver carp at bay.

Silver carp are a notorious invasive fish that are spreading throughout the Mississippi River Basin. Despite their rapid-fire range expansion, silver carp have yet to make it to the Great Lakes. A recent study explores the possibility that polluted Chicago-area waters may be preventing the spread of silver carp into Lake Michigan and beyond.

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EcosystemsEnvironmental Science
Kara Cromwell

Friend or foe? Invasive earthworms can benefit agriculture but harm forests

Earthworms are welcome guests in the garden, but it’s a different story in the forest. By consuming and removing leaf litter too fast they set in motion complex cascades of ecological changes, with long-term negative effects on soil fertility and biodiversity.

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ClimateEnvironmental Science
Ashley Riane Booth

Native milkweed supports healthy monarch communities

“Monarch butterflies do really well on the exotic milkweed species that’s being widely sold and planted under current environmental conditions. But under warmer conditions, the exotic plant becomes too toxic and monarchs become less healthy.”

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