Unravelling the story of an alien invader on the International Day of Biodiversity - 22 May 2009
The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) marks this year's International Day for Biological Diversity by announcing that its extensive work on the invasive harlequin ladybird will be exhibited at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition between 30 June and 4 July in London. The harlequin is the fastest spreading invasive species in Europe and it is predicted that 1000 British native species may be negatively affected following its arrival in Essex in 2004. Researchers would not have been able to determine this without the 30,000 records sent in by the public to the Harlequin Ladybird Survey.
Visitors to the exhibition stand, which has been organised in conjunction with a number of other research groups, can question the experts themselves. They will be able to learn how to distinguish harlequins from our native species see harlequins behaving badly, get up close to them under the microscope, find out how scientists are trying to control the invasion and how they can help by catching the recording bug.
International Biodiversity Day
The International Biodiversity Day takes place every year on 22 May and aims to raise the importance of biodiversity around the globe. The theme this year is Invasive Alien Species, an area which is a core interest of researchers at CEH. Our scientists lead several important projects looking at the impacts of invasive species within the UK and across Europe.
Other CEH work in this area includes:
Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe
To help those tackling the invasive species challenge, this website provides a 'one-stop-shop' for information on biological invasions in Europe. This website is the result of the DAISIE project, funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme (Contract Number: SSPI-CT-2003-511202). The project was led by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
Biological Records Centre
The Biological Records Centre (BRC), part of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, was established in 1964. BRC is the national focus in the UK for terrestrial and freshwater species recording (other than birds). It works with the voluntary recording community throughout Britain and Ireland. The BRC database contains over 15 million records of more than 12000 species, including records of many non-natives.
Additional information/External Links
Ladybird, Ladybird stand at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition
Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe
Other UK work on non-native species
British Trust for Orthnithology
Non Native Species Secretariat
International Day for Biological Diversity - 22 May
Convention on Biological Diversity
The National Biodiversity Network has created an online exhibition showing some of the top Aliens which are spreading throughout the UK.
Related CEH Research
CEH's Biodiversity Science Programme
Recent CEH news items about biodiversity
£10 million initiative launched to tackle bee and pollinator decline - 21 April 2009
UK butterfly numbers fall to new low - 8 April 2009
