Invasive Species

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ntroducing Invasives Ankila Hiremath & Vikram Dayal Some say putting a weed to good use is the best way to control it. Can this novel strategy result in a win-win for multiple-interest groups? 2GTURGEVKXG R Uma Shaanker, Gladwin Joseph, NA Aravind, R Kannan & KN Ganeshiah How Lantana Invaded India Gyan P Sharma, AS Raghubhanshi Invading the Andamans 4GUQNWVKQPVQ4GUVQTG Rauf Ali No half measures work in eradicating persistent invaders. Complete eradication with local participation is the only long-term solution. 5RQVNKIJV Suresh Babu, Amit Love & Cherukuri Raghavendra Babu Tackling Invasive Species: #e Story of a Shrub in South Africa Charlie Shackleton, James Gambiza 6JG'EQPQOKEUQH+PXCUKXGU Anatomy of an Invader John Volin If we take the expenditure to counter pests in agriculture, forestry and !sheries along with the output lost through invasive pests and pathogens in all sectors, and add to that the costs of both, emergent and recurrent diseases of international ori- %QPUGTXCVKQP0GYUHGGF gin, the problem of invasive species makes all other environmental problems pale into insigni!cance. 5PKRRGVU Charles Perrings, Harold Mooney & Mark Williamson 4GUGCTEJKP6TCPUNCVKQP Culture & Conservation %QTCNUQT%QNCDGVYGGPVJG&GXKNVJG&GGR$NWG5GC Joining the Dots Lessons from History An introduced seaweed that brings income to farmers but death to reefs leaves us Removing Rats with Care con"icted. To harvest or eradicate? Kalyani Ganapathy Naveen Namboothri & Kartik Shanker $QQMHTQOVJG#VVKE #e #inking and Feeling Animal Sartaj S Ghuman GFKVQTŏUPQVG^ Invasive species are a part of our lives, so much so that we don’t even notice that a number of the plants and animals around us are foreigners. More importantly, their impact on native biodiversity goes unnoticed. In this issue, we have contri- butions from distinguished scholars working on a diverse assemblage of invasive species, and within these pages you will !nd some unlikely invaders—elephants in the Andamans, mosquitoes in Hawaii, and domestic cats everywhere. Over the past three years Current Conservation has been a source of research news and conservation stories, but from this volume onwards we are bringing about a change in our pro!le to include a broader variety of material, a new look, and a revamped website to engage those of you interested in conservation, science or simply just nature. For instance, are books ever too old to be read? We introduce a new book review Cover art by Kalyani Ganapathy section—‘Book from the Attic’, where we solicit reviews of dated, but nonetheless pivotal, books that have changed the way we view the natural world around us. And what better book to inaugurate this section than one of Darwin’s? Page 36 reviews Darwin and his thoughts on animal emotions. As Current Conservation transforms into this new avatar, we solicit your participation, feedback and any input you may care to give us. We look forward to hearing from you. 'FKVQT #FXKUQT[$QCTF %QR[TKIJV R Nandini Rohan Arthur, India All articles in Current Conservation, unless Bram Buscher, #e Netherlands otherwise noted, are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3 License. /CPCIKPI'FKVQT Brian Child, USA You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the Hetal Hariya Vikram Dayal, India work, and to remix or adapt the work under the Jose Alexandre Diniz-Filho, Brazil following conditions: 5GPKQT'FKVQTU Brendan Godley, UK * You must attribute the work in the manner Kartik Shanker Ferenc Jordan, Hungary speci!ed by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or Ankila Hiremath John Mathew, USA your use of the work). Harini Nagendra, India * For any reuse or distribution, you must make &GUKIP6GCO Fred Nelson, Tanzania clear to others the license terms of this work. Pallavi Baasri Wallace J Nichols, USA * Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Arjun Shankar Meera Anna Oommen, India * Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the Kalyani Ganapathy Samraat Pawar, USA author’s moral rights. Suhel Quader, India Javier Arce-Nazario, USA #e full text of this license is available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Madhu Rao, Singapore Ana Rodrigues, UK Jane Southworth, USA ^EWTTGPVEQPUGTXCVKQP EQPUGTXCVKQPPGYUHGGF^5QWVJ#UKC young, and the subspecies of swiftlet on the Andaman Islands is under threat. E$orts to control this by including the species in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (according it the highest degree of protection) failed, given the di%culty of monitoring caves in inhospitable terrain. #e solution could lie in a unique program initiated by the late Ravi Sankaran and now ex- Photo: Kalyan Varma | Artwork: Pallavi Baasri ecuted by Shirish Manchi, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural 5('/,*+7$5($635(9(17&/26((1&2817(56 History, Coimbatore in association with the Andamans Forest Department. #e program employs poachers to protect A novel warning system to alert villa- umented elephant-human con"ict in caves (numbering 181), and nests are gers to passing elephants could reduce Valparai since 2002, hope to build on harvested after the !rst breeding cycle. human-elephant con"ict on the Valpa- the success of earlier initiatives. #e rai plateau in Tamil Nadu, southern team previously introduced a system Additionally, birds are translocated to India, a mosaic of plantations (predo- that allows villagers to learn of eleph- abandoned buildings in order to estab- minantly tea), woodlots and rainforest ant herd movement across the plateau lish breeding centres similar to those fragments. through cable TV. #e movements of in Southeast Asia. Cross-fostering of the elephant herds appeared on a news chicks from caves to the buildings will Home to one of the largest populations ticker across the screen of a local tele- eventually encourage more birds to of elephants in the region, the plateau vision channel through the evenings. breed in the buildings, given that the sees frequent interactions between peo- species is philopatric. Nests are kept in ple and elephants that result in acciden- Technology o$ers promising solutions the custody of the forest department, tal human fatalities, usually late in the to conservation problems, says Kumar. and their sale will be monitored by a evening or at nighttime, when elephant co-operative society (comprising of movement is hard to see. forest department, local communities 6HOOLQJ1HVWVWR6DYH%LUGV and biologists). #e team persuaded the But a new initiative by M Ananda Indian Government to deregister the Kumar and colleagues at the Nature #e indiscriminate poaching of swiftlet species from Schedule I on a probation Conservation Foundation, Mysore, nests could be ended while at the same basis for 3 years, during which this con- could change all that. In association time allowing simultaneous sustainable troversial program will be monitored. with the corporations, running the harvest of nests in the Andaman Isla- plantations, the Forest Department, nds, India, according to a bold initiative media, and women’s self-help groups, by scientists and forest o%cers. Kumar and his team plan to install "ashing red lights activated by GSM Edible-nest swiftlets are widely distri- based technology mounted on poles buted across south and southeast Asia, near colonies and bus stops. #ese and their nests are the main ingredient )DVW)DFWV Shirish Manchi ‘Elephant Alert Indicators,’ seen from in bird-nests soup, a popular dish in the * Nests in caves in groups up to a kilometer away, will "ash red Orient region. Valued at US$ 400/kg * Build nest out of saliva when elephants are in the vicinity, al- in the international market, poachers * Build nest for every brood lowing locals to use alternative routes in India can earn up to Rs. 10,000/kg * Nest philopatry (return to breed or wait till the lights are turned o$. of nests harvested. Poaching of nests in the cave they were born in) Kumar and his team, who have doc- from caves prevents birds from raising EWTTGPVEQPUGTXCVKQP^ URGEKCN^+PXCUKXG5RGEKGU %LRORJLFDO,QYDVLRQV IURPHFRORJ\WRKXPDQZHOOEHLQJ People have moved species from one part of the globe to another throughout human history. For the most part species introductions have been deliberate—most of the food we eat, the !bres we use, the plants in our gardens, have their origins in distant parts of the world. Occasionally, species introductions have been inadvertent or acc- idental—as hitchhikers on deliberate introductions, or, increasingly, as a collateral to growing global travel and trade. Every so often, an introduced species tends to become dominant in its de novo environ- 'XGT[UQQHVGPCPKPVTQFW ment, competing with native species, alter- EGFURGEKGUVGPFUVQDGEQOG ing the structure and functioning of native FQOKPCPVKPKVUFGPQXQGPX ecosystems, and doing untold ecological KTQPOGPVEQORGVKPIYKVJ and economic damage: the arrival of avian Kalyani Ganapathy PCVKXGURGEKGUCNVGTKPIVJG malaria in the Hawaiian islands led to the UVTWEVWTGCPFHWPEVKQPKPI

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