Biodiversity and Invasive Species. Links

Just for info, here are a few links related to recent EU work on biodiversity and invasive species.

ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasive...larm_deliverable.pdf

ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasive...ogical_invasions.pdf

ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasive...an_inventory_ias.pdf

and a general link to ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/invasivealien/index_en.htm

ian

The greatest defence this Country has re Invasive Plant Species is our Geographical position on the Planet.

I have been growing sub-Tropical species of plants for decades, as the years progressed, more and more were making it through the winters as they probressively got less and less cold, I grew plants from practically every continent, I even grew these
Datura sanguinea.
outdoors along with
Erythrina crista-gali

Each year there was less and less damage and the plants recovered quickly and flowered well. If the trend had continued, I have no doubt that I would have gotten to the point where Seed would have been produced and it might have been viable, however, the last two Winters have reversed the process and everything was killed, no half measures this time, scuttled beyond belief.

This cyclical cold is what keeps natives natives. This is not to say that plants continue to surprise with their genetic disposition toward Hardiness and will continue to surprise.

Plants from countries that have similar climatic conditions like ours, ie. The UK etc. Could thrive but being from outside the 32 Counties they still are called exotics and are.

Plants exhibit hardiness by surviving temps they are used to but the amount of direct, warm sunshine is a huge contributor to a plant surviving freezing, I had an Agave americana, 5 ft x 5 ft and thriving for the last 8 years, a huge monster but it suffered badly but in it's native habitat in Nevada and across the Northern USA it survives temps way below our coldest. Sunshine produces Sugars that behave like Anti-freeze and prevent cells from rupturing due to the formation of Ice crystals which cause a mush like appearance after a deep freeze.

Plant hunters in the 18th Century brought back all manners of species from their trips with Darwin and Cook etc., little consideration was given to invasive species then and given the legacy of Ireland under British rule, we inherited things like Heracleum montagazzianum or Giant Hog Weed , Balsam and Japanese knotweed, Fallopia japonica which are at plague proportions as is Rhododendron ponticum, a beautiful Plant but a really difficult to eradicate Plant. I think this is what lead to the dismal record we have on protecting what is ours but it doesn't stop at Plants, our inherited beautiful Georgian architecture was being demolished to beat the Band until someone stood up to Dublin Corporation and forced a re-think.

OK, I'm done and sorry for the long-winded if irrelevant reply.

Kev.

Here are a few interesting links:

www.japaneseknotweedireland.com/

This Garden was owned by a friend of mine in Howth, he is no longer among us but remembered.

www.earlscliffe.com/picture_gallery.htm

www.geneticheritageireland.ie/growingwild/habitatinvasive.htm

Kev.

Nice Datura! Glengarrif was the only place I was aware of them growing well outdoors in Ireland before this.

Nope, a few places were successful, i did manage to get viable seed but because the plant is pollinator specific I had to Hand pollinate, the tuber like stem which was very bulky under ground sprouted each year for about 5 years and flowered toward the end of summer, I currently have Hedychium Greenii, gardnerianum, spicata and a host of other Himalayan Gingers growing outside and flowering beautifully.

Roscoea grow and provide seed and Edgeworthias which are stated to be half hardy just finished flowering and they were superb.
I suspect Glengarrif lost a huge amount of species, especially their succulent collection.

Kev.

I spent a lot of 1990's summers down there. Haven't been down there much since 2000. I would have thought Garnish would be pretty immune to harsh winters, with the size of the body of warm water enclosed within the bay.
The OPW's concept of garden managment would have been (i.e. WAS) far more destructive there than a cold winter.

What's this got to do with fishkeeping?????????

.....a great deal to be honest.

One underlying point in any such legislation would be noting biological indicators as being a support or denial of the suggestions.

If we see invasive plants do well, then that is a biological indicator.
If we see turtles thrown into duck ponds and doing well, then that too is a biological indicator.

The legislation will tend to use those types of examples in addressing preventive measures against allowing fish species into the country.
It is not just about solving a problem species already in existence.

I bought some very nice little coldwater fish the other day.....Dace (Cyprinella lutrensis). If I still lived in the UK, the shop selling them would be required to have a special license for them and would be required by law to tell the Government agency my name and address. I wouldn't need a license though (under the present legislation) to keep them.

But this thread is supposed to be about conservation in general.....and anything that may be seen to be profoundly prompting a discussion on non-fish species will also be about fish and fish keeping.

A lot of the written info on what species will survive in Ireland has been based upon what will or won't survive outdoors in the UK.
Plants have been the main topic of discussion in the past as gardeners often use UK books in determining when to plant annuals etc etc. and what is hardy or not.

But we do see some interesting things here in Ireland....I know many tropical orchids will thrive outdoors all year round, but they would stand a chance in the UK.
I used to live up the hill from Avoca Handweavers outside Bray......they have some enormous Eucalyptus trees and conifers. The conifers (redwoods etc) are growing at an enormous rate....maybe Ireland will soon hold the world record for the tallest trees in the world??

Those indicators may show legislative bodies that they may want to review the species of fish sold....that may affect fish keeping.

I also think that as responsible fish keepers, we stand to inform the fish keeping community that being irresponsible and throwing an overgrown goldfish, koi, sun-fish or whatever into the local lake is the type of action that will make legislative bodies pull the strings up even tighter.

Failure of proper conservation efforts in the past have, in my opinion, been due to too much of a focus on single items. The broader picture needs to be looked at, and if the focus is fish then that focus needs to be widened to bring in other species. Hence, the posts on plants are a nice bit of sauce to add to the main meal.

ian

christyg wrote:

What's this got to do with fishkeeping?????????

General Nature Conservation - News and Updates, doesn't specify anything so therefore anything pertaining to the topic is acceptable.

Kev.