The "European Alien Species Information Network" is launched

The European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN) aims at increasing the access to data and information on alien species in Europe. EASIN facilitates the exploration of existing alien species information from distributed resources through a network of interoperable web services, following internationally recognized standards and protocols. Read more...

Escaped pet Pythons causing decline in Everglades Wildlife

ENN, February 01, 2012

Non-native Burmese pythons are believed to be the cause of severe mammal declines in the Florida Everglades, according to new research.
Also known as the Asiatic rock python, the Burmese python (Python molurus bivittatus) is a large constricting snake native to Asia. The exact origins of the pythons in the Everglades are unknown, but many have been imported into the United States through the pet trade, and some are likely to have escaped or been released into the wild. Read more...

New Zealand scientists record 'biodiversity breakdown'

BBC News, February 4, 2011


Scientists in New Zealand say they have linked the modern-day decline of a common forest shrub with the local extinction of two pollinating birds over a century ago. They say the disappearance of two birds - the bellbird and stitchbird - from the upper North Island of the country has lead to a slow decline in common plants, including the forest shrub New Zealand gloxinia.
Ship rats and stoats imported into the country around the year 1870 are blamed for the birds' demise.
The researchers claim the study, published in the journal Science, offers rare experimental proof of a breakdown in a local ecosystem. Read more...

Pet Trade Introduces Diseases, Costs

Discovery Channel, April 30, 2009

by Emily Sohn

April 30, 2009 -- Invasive species are putting major strains on our environment, our pocketbooks and our health, new studies suggest, and our nation's demand for exotic pets may be to blame.
Between 2000 and 2006, the United States imported nearly 1.5 billion live animals from 190 countries, mostly for sale as pets, according to a paper published today in the journal Science. Eighty percent of those animals came from wild populations. And nearly 70 percent of them came from Southeast Asia, a known hotspot for emerging diseases that, like the swine flu, can jump from animals to people. Read more...

Το πε, το πε ο παπαγάλος...

Ελευθεροτυπία, 11 Φεβρουαρίου 2008

Πληθαίνουν οι αποικίες των παπαγάλων στις γειτονιές της Αττικής, σε περιοχές της Πελοποννήσου, της Θεσσαλονίκης και των νησιών του Αιγαίου. Οι περισσότεροι ανήκουν στο είδος «Δαχτυλιδολαίμης Ψιττακίσκος» (Psittacula krameri) ή «Πράσινος Παπαγάλος» σύμφωνα με τη νέα ονοματολογία της Ελληνικής Ορνιθολογικής Εταιρείας. Μέχρι πριν από λίγες δεκαετίες, η εξάπλωσή του περιοριζόταν στα νότια της Ασιατικής ηπείρου και στην υποσαχάρια Αφρική, τώρα όμως αφθονεί σε πολλά πάρκα της πρωτεύουσας. Διαβάστε περισσότερα...