Before I begin this article I want to say this:
Now, back to your regularly (Not very regularly) scheduled article.
Through countless means, many human in nature, species spread throughout the world. This. Is. Bad. For the most part. An invasive species is any organism that has spread beyond its natural range and is causing harm. This is different to alien species who are just found outside their natural range. There are thousands of invasive species across the globe from all branches of the tree of life. Some examples are shown below. These are invasive in the UK, please check if they are invasive in your country before reporting them!
As this site focuses on ants I will be talking about them but the information and advice can and should be used with any invasive species you find. Also, I am from the UK so will be using British examples and sites but your local and national governments should have equivalent tools and sites.
Step 1 is to make sure the species you have found is invasive. This will probably be the most difficult part of this process. Books and the internet can be out dated as new species are being discovered all the time. The internet can also be unreliable however, here are some sites that will at least help you in determining if the species you have found is invasive.
There are countless places to find out what species you are looking at. A quick google will usually be all it takes. For example lets use the ant pictured below as an example.
Say you find this ant in your kitchen. I have another post here to determine if you are looking at an ant or not. What are the notable features? It is black with a white abdomen. Search this in Google Images and you will see this:
Clicking on this will bring you to the Wikipedia page for Tapinoma melanocephalum, Ghost ants. It won’t always be this easy but a bit more digging is usually all it takes. Now. Is it invasive? You’ll need another site for that. GBIF is probably the best to be honest. It will show you where species are found as well as all the species found in your country. This site should work with all countries. Once you are at the homepage here is a quick video showing you how I used it (View on YouTube for full screen):
This species is invasive in the UK as shown on the site! Thankfully they have no recorded occurrences which is great! If you do find them in the UK however, report them immediately! While there are other sites you can use, I always use GBIF (not sponsored) although some sites like AntWiki and Antweb can really help with identifying ant species. Once you are absolutely sure the species you have found is invasive you can move onto the next step. It is time to report it. It is very important to take clear pictures of the invasive species and note down the location. This will be very useful when reporting them.
If you are in the UK you will need to report it to the Non-Native Species Secretariat and follow their instructions. Please note that they do not accept reports of ‘Widespread species’ which will be listed on the website. The lists of invasive species, where and how you report them will likely be very different from country to country so please report these species according to your local laws and systems. The Non-Native Species Secretariat website has all the instructions you will need.
Reporting and cataloguing invasive species is extremely important. Invasive species are so damaging to the wildlife in the areas they invade. It is crucial to acknowledge these invasions quickly so action can be taken before too much damage is done. Invasive species cause can extinctions of native species and negatively impact farming among many other possible impacts. The more we do and the faster we do it, these effects can be minimised or hopefully avoided. I would suggest further reading into invasive species to truly understand why they are so bad.
Please make sure you follow your local processes correctly and be extra sure your identification is correct. False reports can be almost as damaging as no reports. I hope you never need to use this but if you do I hope this article has helped. And please share to anyone and everyone you think will find this helpful! Thanks for reading,
Alex.
Glossary
Invasive species- A species introduced outside its natural past or present distribution; if this species becomes problematic, it is termed an invasive species.
Non-native species- An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, directly or indirectly, and either deliberately or accidentally.
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Alex's Ants 