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Invasive species threaten US biodiversity: As 2010, the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity, gets underway, a fight against some of the most damaging invasive species in US waterways is heating up

Posted by: Maven on January 5, 2010 at 8:13 am

From the guardian.co.uk:

“As 2010, the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity, gets underway, a fight against some of the most damaging invasive species in US waterways is heating up.

The UN says some experts put the rate at which species are disappearing at 1,000 times the natural rate, and invasive species – which consume the food or habitat of native species, or the native species themselves – are one factor contributing to this acceleration. Climate change is another major factor.

“Often it will be the combination of climate change and [invasive] pests operating together that will wipe species out,” says Tim Low of the Australia-based Invasive Species Council.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that 38% of the 44,838 species catalogued on its Red List are “threatened with extinction” – and at least 40% of all animal extinctions for which the cause is known are the result of invasive species. … “

Read more from guardian.co.uk by clicking here.

January 5, 2010 · Filed Under Invasive Plants & Species

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