Award-winning Oregonian cartoonist Jack Ohman takes on this week’s Oregon Sea Grant report linking school science classrooms spread of invasive species, with pinpoint humor. (Click on image to enlarge)
(c) The Oregonian, with permission from the artist, who urged us to spread it like an invasive species.
One in four teachers who use live animals for classroom science projects report that they’ve released the animals into the wild when the projects are done, according to a new Sea Grant study – and the practice may be helping to spread some nasty invasive species.
The study, led by Oregon Sea Grant Extension’s invasive species expert Sam Chan, was presented at this week’s national meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Portland.
“Live organisms are a critical element for learning and we don’t want to imply that they should not be used in the classroom,” said Chan. “But some of our schools – and the biological supply houses that provide their organisms – are creating a potential new pathway for non-native species to become invasive.
“We need to work through the whole chain and educate both the teachers and suppliers about the potential damages – both environmental and economic – that invasive species may trigger,” added Chan, former chair of the Oregon Invasive Species Council.
The study surveyed nearly 2,000 teachers in Florida, New York, Indiana, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, California, Connecticut, British Columbia and Ontario. Conducted primarily by researchers from Sea Grant programs in those states, it also included focus groups and interviews with teachers, curriculum specialists and biological supply house owners and managers.
The researchers found teachers using as many as 1,000 different organisms in the classroom, including many frequently listed species identified as known or potential aquatic invaders, including elodea, crayfishes, amphibians, mosquito fish, red-eared slider turtles and other aquatic plants and snails.
Learn more:
(Photo credit: Jennifer England, Franklin Elementary School, Corvallis)
CORVALLIS – A new, free iPhone application from Oregon Sea Grant aims to stem the spread of invasive insects by showing campers where they can buy local firewood when vacationing on the Oregon coast and other Pacific Northwest locations.
Dubbed “Firewood Buddy,” the application was developed by Media Macros, in collaboration with Sea Grant Extension’s invasive species specialist Sam Chan, media specialist Mark Farley and the Oregon Invasive Species Council.
The application is available free from:
http://itunes.apple.com/app/firewood-buddy/id539361546?mt=8
Using the application, iPhone- or iPad-equipped visitors can locate local firewood sellers closest to parks and campgrounds on the Oregon coast and in Washington, Idaho and northern California.
If the application proves popular, a version may be developed for Android devices as well.
The application also provides practical information about camping, and informs campers about problems caused by non-native insects and diseases that may be harbored in untreated firewood sold by supermarkets and other sources. Such wood often originates outside the region – sometimes from as far away as the US East Coast, New Zealand or Russia. The wood can harbor insects and other organisms, some of which can lie dormant in or on firewood for as long as two years and can cause forest havoc if they escape in areas where they have no natural predators. (Additional information about the threat of firewood-borne pests is available at http://www.dontmovefirewood.org)
The mobile application is a followup to a 2009-11 research and education campaign Sea Grant undertook with invasive species councils in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. A joint education campaign ensued to encourage people not to transport firewood to campouts, picnics and other activities.
Using the slogan “Buy it where you burn it,” the campaign provided educational material about invasive insects and plant diseases to people reserving state park campsites online. Surveys before and after the educational campaign showed that, while nearly 40% of campers surveyed said they regularly brought firewood with them from outside the area, two-thirds of those who’d seen the educational material said they would change their behavior, including buying firewood locally.
The research and education project was funded by the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
AGATE BEACH – A large section of a dock, ripped from the Japanese shore by last year’s tsunami and washed up this week on the Oregon coast, brought with it a host of potentially unwelcomed visitors.
Scientists at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center said the cement float contains about 13 pounds of organisms per square foot – an estimated 100 tons of wet plant and animal life. As of Thursday they had gathered living samples sample of multiple species of barnacles, starfish, urchins, anemones, amphipods, worms, mussels, limpets, snails, solitary tunicates and algae – and there are dozens of species overall.
“This float is an island unlike any transoceanic debris we have ever seen,” said John Chapman, an OSU researcher who studies marine invasive species . “Drifting boats lack such dense fouling communities, and few of these species are already on this coast. Nearly all of the species we’ve looked at were established on the float before the tsunami; few came after it was at sea.”
Chapman said it was “mind-boggling” how these organisms survived their trek across the Pacific Ocean. The low productivity of open-ocean waters should have starved at least some of the organisms, he said.
“It is as if the float drifted over here by hugging the coasts, but that is of course impossible,” Chapman said. “Life on the open ocean, while drifting, may be more gentle for these organisms than we initially suspected. Invertebrates can survive for months without food and the most abundant algae species may not have had the normal compliment of herbivores. Still, it is surprising.”
Jessica Miller, an Oregon State University marine ecologist, said that a brown algae (Undaria pinnatifida), commonly called wakame, was present across most of the dock – and plainly stood out when she examined it in the fading evening light. She said the algae is native to the western Pacific Ocean in Asia, and has invaded several regions including southern California. The species identification was confirmed by OSU phycologist Gayle Hansen.
“To my knowledge it has not been reported north of Monterey, Calif., so this is something we need to watch out for,” Miller said.
Miller said the plan developed by the state through the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon State Parks is to scrape the dock and to bag all of the biological material to minimize potential spread of non-native species. But there is no way of telling if any of the organisms that hitchhiked aboard the float from Japan have already disembarked in nearshore waters.
“We have no evidence so far that anything from this float has established on our shores,” said Chapman. “That will take time. However, we are vulnerable. One new introduced species is discovered in Yaquina Bay, only two miles away, every year. We hope that none of these species we are finding on this float will be among the new discoveries in years to come.”
Read the complete story from OSU News & Research Information
(Photo credit: OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport)
CORVALLIS – Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant’s invasive species expert, will be among the instructors for Oregon State University’s first-ever Natural Resources Leadership Academy this summer.
NRLA – Applying Risk Analysis to Invasive Species and Sustainable Natural Resources with Sam Chan from Oregon State University – PNE on Vimeo.
The academy, June 15-29, is aimed at natural resources professionals and graduate students who want to enhance their leadership skills, gain knowledge and connect with others in their fields. The courses, available with or without academic credit, also satisfy curriculum requirements for several OSU degrees.
Participants may choose up to two courses, offered in week-long, all-day sessions, in natural resources conflict management, communication, leadership and sustainability. A $50 fee covers registration for both weeks; additional course fees vary for credit and non-credit registration, and depending on the number of credits taken. Academy pre-registration is required by April 18; course registration runs from April 15-May 7.
Fees do not cover textbooks or lodging; discount lodging is available in OSU dorms and local motels.
For complete information visit the OSU Natural Resources Leadership Academy on the Web.
Part of the haul
CORVALLIS – Oregon Sea Grant Scholars have helped Corvallis police and public works and Allied Waste employees collect more than 550 pounds of old, unused and expired prescription drugs for safe disposal – drugs which otherwise might have wound up in the hands of abusers, or poisoning local waterways.
Student interns and research assistants who work with Sea Grant water quality specialist Sam Chan volunteered for the third National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, Oct. 29, which netted more than 188 tons of unwanted or expired medications at 5,327 collection sites across the country.
The event is sponsored by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, primarily to keep drugs out of the the crime and drug abuse stream.
But the Sea Grant students were interested in different streams: The ones that receive the outflow from local sewage plants, and seepage from local landfills.
According to the Association of Clean Water Agencies in Oregon, a San Francisco study showed that nearly 40 per cent of medications purchased in that city go unused. Many get tossed in the trash or flushed down toilets, making their way into the environment where they pose both environmental and human hazards.
The student interns participated in the Corvallis event to learn about drug take-back programs as part of a Sea Grant needs-assessment that meant to guide future investments in research, outreach and public education. Pharmaceuticals are becoming a growing issue for water quality and ocean health, and are increasingly emphasized as areas of concern by Sea Grant’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Sea Grant Extension teamed with Corvallis Public works to inform those who dropped off medications about how proper drug disposal can protect the drinking water supply and the aquatic environment.
“It was great to be able to engage and educate people on why Sea Grant was at the event,” said Jennifer Lam, a Sea Grant professional intern. “People were interested in learning that disposing of their medication properly not only protects their families from accidental poisoning, but also prevents these drugs from affecting fish and other aquatic organisms.”
Sea Grant Scholars with Corvallis police and public works employees
Oregon Sea Grant’s popular “Oregon Coast Quests” are the subject of an article in the October 28, 2011, edition of the weekly newspaper Oregon Coast Today.
Sea Grant invasive species expert Sam Chan talks to Blue Earth Wire about his recent work trying to inform Oregonians about how imported firewood can harbor invasive, tree-killing pests:
Chan has been working with the Oregon Invasive Species Council to pass legislation that will ban the commercial import of untreated firewood into Oregon from other states and countries beginning in 2013. Their study of campground education campaigns showed that when campers learned what might be lurking in their firewood, many changed their buying habits and sought out local firewood sources.
More on this research and education campaign: “Buy it where you burn it,” from the Vancouver Columbian
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon Sea Grant researchers have found that a focused education and outreach campaign targeted at something most people can easily relate to – campfires and the firewood burned in campgrounds – contributes to behavioral changes to slow the spread of invasive species.
The study, the first of its kind in the U.S., was part of a two-year campaign led by invasive species councils in Oregon, Idaho and Washington to encourage people not to transport firewood.
Many insects and diseases that threaten natural resources in the Pacific Northwest can lie dormant, on or in firewood for up to two years, and researchers discovered that some firewood sold or brought to Oregon originated from as far away as the East Coast of the U.S., New Zealand and Russia.
Before the study started, entomologists associated with the project found 20 specimens of live invasive species in just six bundles of firewood purchased at grocery stores.
The study assessed the effectiveness of the educational campaign, as well as how much campers know about firewood as a vector of invasive species, the sources of firewood transported to campgrounds, and how campers can play a role in slowing the spread of invasive species.
“We wanted something that would clearly represent the problem, and we felt that firewood is so iconic that using it as an educational tool would help people better understand that humans are vectors of invasive species,” said Sam Chan, Sea Grant’s invasive species and watershed health specialist at Oregon State University. “Campers transporting firewood across borders and ecosystems can unknowingly spread invasive species.”
When an aggressive non-native species, Didemnum vexillum, showed up in Winchester Bay and Coos Bay last year, Oregon Sea Grant, the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Coast Aquarium went to work. Sea Grant Extension agents began educating communities about the threat. Divers began scouring harbors and inlets for this “colonial tunicate,” which is on the top-100 list of species to be kept out of Oregon. The animal fouls nets, crab traps, boats and marine facilities. The State of Washington has spent more than $1 million control it in Puget Sound.
This cream-colored tunicate, which can resemble a soft coral, can foul fishing equipment, boats, water intakes and aquaculture moorings.
If it gets a foothold in Oregon, it wouldn’t be the first invader. English ivy, non-native crayfish, New Zealand mudsnails and European green crabs are well-established here. Non-native species enter the state in cars, recreational boats, ships, airplanes and on the wind. As an Oregon Sea Grant educator and chair of the Oregon Invasive Species Council, Sam Chan coordinates efforts to identify threats and curb new infestations.
At the May 9 Corvallis Science Pub, Chan will discuss invasives in Oregon and in other states and the economic and environmental costs of managing them. He’ll provide updates on efforts to manage the pest that causes “sudden oak death” and several pathways for new species to enter the state: biology classes in schools and campgrounds and resorts that import firewood from as far away as Asia.
Science Pub takes place at the Old World Deli, 341 SW 2nd Street, the second Monday of each month from 6-8 pm. The talks are free and open to the public. Come early to get a good table and enjoy some food and drink before the program starts. If you can’t make it to the deli, Science Pub is also streamed live on the Web, courtesy of OSU’s Terra magazine.
Read more about Oregon Sea Grant’s efforts in invasive species education.