Saturday, March 07, 2009

Invasive Species in China

Invasive species problems and issues are not the sole domain of the United States. An interesting web site lists the invaders of China – in English. The site is called simply Invasive Species in China. The website’s invasive species definition has a universal and familiar ring:

“… an invasive alien species…has been introduced into an area where it is not native from its natural range by either intentional or unintentional human activity; has established a self-reproducing population in a local natural or artificial ecosystems; and has caused obvious changes in a natural ecosystem or landscape, or has caused damages to a local natural or artificial ecosystem. We also consider alien species in China to include species introduced outside their native ranges within China as well as non-native species introduced from other countries.

Other sources toll the cost to China's ecosystems such as described in:
China’s Booming Economy Is Sparking and Accelerating Biological Invasions, by
JIANQING DING, RICHARD N. MACK, PING LU, MINGXUN REN, AND HONGWEN HUANG


"The effects of an invasive species can be immediate,conspicuous, and profound. For example,Beijing, the host forthe 2008 Summer Olympic Games, launched a concerted campaign in 2006 against the introduced fall webworm (Hyphantria cunea [Drury]), a recent invader from North America that has swiftly devastated Beijing’s urban landscape by defoliating more than 200 plant species, including valued ornamental trees (Jia 2006).This introduced insect is however only one of more than 400 alien species now consideredinvasive in China (Xie et al. 2001)." information and link courtesy of the Invasive Species Weblog: http://invasivespecies.blogspot.com/

Sources not cited for the list

Partial list of invasive species in China:

Plants:
Mexican Tea (Chenopodium ambrosioides)
Alligator Weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)
Spingflower Alternanthera (Alternanthera pungens)
Amaranth (Amaranthu spp.)
Cacti (Cactaceae)
Golden Dewdrop (Duranta repens)
Love Apple (Solanum aculeatissimum)
Plantaiga (Plantago spp.)
Venus’ Looking-glass (Triodanis)
Tropic Ageratum (Ageratumm conyzoides)
Ragweed (Ambrosia spp.)
Horseweed (Conyza spp.)
Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)
Crofton Weed (Eupatorium adenophorum)
South American Climber (Mikania micrantha)
Tall Goldenrod (Solidago altissma)
Common Cordgrass (Spartina anglica)
Darnel Ryegrass (Lolium temulentum)
Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

Mammals:
Nutria (Myocastor coypus)
Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)
Brown or Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Sladen’s Rat (Rattus tanezumi)

Birds:
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacacatua sulpurea)
Rainbow Lorikeet (Trihoglossus haematotus)
Canada Goose (Anser canadensis)
 
Fishes:
Bighead (Aristichthys nobilis)
Gobies (Gobiidae) and Topmouth Gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva)
Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) and Livebearers (Poeciliidae)
 
Crustaceans:
Crayfish (Procambius clarkii)

Mollusks:
Amazonian Snail (Ampullaria gigas)
Giant African Snail (Achatina fulica)
 
Insects:
Termites (Termitidae)
Pine Scale (Hemiberlesia pitysophila)
Fall Webworm, American White Moth (Hyphantria cunea)
Banana Moth (Opogona sacchari)
Loblolly Pine Mealybug (Oracella acuta)
Vegetable Leaf Miner (Liriomyza sativae)
American Rice Water Weevil (Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus)
American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
German Cockroach (Blattella germanica)
Woolly Apple Aphid (Eriosoma lanigerum)
Grape Root Louse (Phylloxera vitifolii)’

Nematodes:
North American Pinewood Nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus)

Fungi:
Black Spot (Ceratocystis fimbriata)
 
Wildlife Diseases:
Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus in trout (IPNV)
 



1 comment:

Jennifer Forman Orth said...

You might be interested in the following: China’s Booming Economy Is Sparking and Accelerating Biological Invasions (BioScience v. 58 n. 4, 2008, p. 317+).