The Aliens Among Us: How Invasive Species Are Transforming the Planet―and Ourselves

397 Pages·2017·13.08 MB·English

by  Leslie Anthony

The Aliens Among Us

Copyright © 2017 by Leslie Anthony.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that
copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the
public press), without written permission from the publishers.

Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or promotional use.
For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. office) or [email protected] (U.K. office).

Set in Minion type by IDS Infotech, Ltd.
Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017937194

ISBN 978-0-300-20890-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
for Petal
a lover of plants
a respecter of nature
a plucker of heartstrings
Instead of six continental realms of life, with all their minor components of
mountain tops, islands and fresh waters, separated by barriers to dispersal, there
will be only one world, with the remaining wild species dispersed up to the
limits set by their genetic characteristics, not to the narrower limits set by
mechanical barriers as well.
Charles Elton, The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants
Contents
Acknowledgments
PART I Big Trouble: A Plague of … Giant Snakes?
PART II A Postcard from Florida: Introducing Alien Invasive Species
PART III The Python’s Tale: Establishment, Spread, and Detection
PART IV Invasional Meltdown: Impacts of Alien Invasive Species
PART V The Sisyphus Files: Eradication and Control
PART VI Sunrise on Homogena: A New Planetary Paradigm
Literature and Other Sources
Index
Plates follow page 210
Acknowledgments
The issue of invasive species is both enormous and important. These
organisms not only have been physically dislocated to new lands from the
ecosystems in which they evolved, but also, as this book avers, have infiltrated
both the public psyche and most institutions in their adopted homes. That’s a lot
to wrap your head around, meaning a project of this magnitude would never
have found its way unless a critical path forward had presented itself. It was,
fortunately, a human compass that offered that direction: my friend and
colleague Nicholas Mandrak at the University of Toronto. Our first chat on the
subject neither hinted at the Pandora’s box he was opening nor revealed what his
eventual commitment to shutting it would be. In the end, many hours of what
likely would have been more valuable time to him was spent graciously sharing
with me his hard-won knowledge on fisheries science, aquatic biodiversity, and
the ecosystems of the Great Lakes. I believe I owe him an infinite amount of
beer, a debt that I live in fear he will try to collect on.
At least I can blame Mandrak for the fact that Becky Cudmore, commander
of the Asian Carp Program at Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans
(DFO), suffered similarly pesky visits. Numerous phone and office consultations
with another friend, Isaac Bogoch, opened a window on geographical
epidemiology and invasive vector-pathogen pairs in emerging global diseases.
Beyond the considerable contributions of these three, I’ll first salute those
who figured most in piquing my interest on invasives: Charles Elton, author of
The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants; David Quammen, for his
“Planet of Weeds” essay in Harper’s, and the “tireless” (you’ll understand this
later) ecologist Daniel Simberloff for his voluminous work, much of which I’ve
now had the pleasure to read. Informally, through Simberloff collaborations, and
formally through Mandrak, I was introduced to the equally tireless Anthony
Ricciardi, who provided more grist in a single phone call than any other made
over the four years of this project. Editors James Little at explore, Clare Ogilve
at PIQUE Newsmagazine, Dan Rubinstein at Canadian Geographic, Cooper
Langford at Canadian Wildlife, and Robyn Smith at Tyee.ca enthusiastically
published articles from which parts of this book are drawn.
My first invasive-related assignment for explore took me to Florida, where I
hefted five-meter Burmese pythons but came away more impressed with the heft
of those working to thwart their effects: Meg Lowman and Skip Snow were
enormously helpful and facilitative, and George Cera and Karen Garrod both let
me tag along in the field.
Next stop was Haida Gwaii, where Laurie Wein and the Parks Canada “rat
patrol” of Peter Dyment, Debby Gardiner, Tysen Husband, and Clint Johnson
Kendrick welcomed me into their bobbing North Pacific sanctum. I can’t thank
Parks’ terrestrial ecologist Carita Bergman enough for the time she took to
discuss ecological restoration in Haida Gwaii. Also helpful were British
Columbia Conservation Officer James Hilgemann, Parks’ PR specialist Heather
Ramsey, Barb Wilson of the Haida Nation, and Ainsley Brow, Lexi Forbes, and
Roger Packham of Coastal Conservation. On the other side of the country,
Marie-Josée Légaré of Quebec National Parks (Sépaq) accompanied me on a
magical trip to L’Île d’Anticosti, even tracking down mayor-cum-deer-biologist
Denis Duteau for a thought-provoking dinner.
Clare Greenberg of the Sea to Sky Invasive Species Council and her team of
Sam Cousins, Rob Hughes, Breanne Johnson, and Sharon Watson no doubt
found me as tenacious as a knotweed—and at times harder to get rid of—yet
Greenberg was never too busy to share her thoughts and expertise. Thanks also
to SSISC alumnus Kristina Swerhun and, especially, SSISC and Whistler
Naturalists founder Bob Brett, whose personal invasive-plant crusades are
legend. Richard Beard offered insight into ecological restoration and commercial
invasive plant removal when I joined his Green Admiral crew of Julia Alards-
Tomalin and Wade McCleod for a day. Trevor Cox connected me with Fiona
Steele at Diamond Head Consulting, who not only took time to meet, but
arranged for me to accompany crews led by Jeff Hunter and Keith MacKenzie.
Others who took time to converse about invasive plants include Ken Crosby at
City of Surrey, Sharon Gillies at University of the Fraser Valley, and Melinda
Yong at City of Burnaby.
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my overworked but ever-helpful friend,
Purnima Govindarajulu, at British Columbia’s Ministry of the Environment.
More aid with B.C.’s invasive bullfrogs came from Sara Ashpole, Christian
Engelstoft, Natasha Lukey, and Stan Orchard. Rylee Murray deserves special
thanks for a lively nighttime tour of the Fraser Valley’s croaking masses.
Phone chats with Lee Frelich delivered the equivalent of a university course
on invasive earthworms in Minnesota, and Erin Cameron happily extended the
subject to Alberta and Finland. Ant-whisperer Sean McCann opened my eyes to
the scourge of Myrmica rubra, and Chris Higgins of Thompson Rivers
University in Kamloops filled me in on what that means to the naïve ecosystems
of North America. I enjoyed a lengthy discussion on America’s imported red fire
ants with University of Pennsylvania doctoral student Chris Thawley. Troy
Kimoto of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency schooled me on invasive
insects, and University of Toronto’s Sandy Smith and Robert Bourchier of
Agriculture Canada further educated me on the history and current status of
biocontrol in North America.
David Galbraith introduced me to lands manager Tys Theysmeyer at the
Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton, Ontario, who ground-truthed with me the
impacts of invasive common carp, Phragmites, irruptive cormorants, and Canada
geese. Johanna Liemivuo-Lahti of the Government of Finland shared tea,
biscuits, and her magnum opus on the prevention, control, and monitoring of
invasive species. Sean Fox opened the gates to the Guelph Arboretum and the
secrets of American elm and American chestnut restoration. A chat with Helen
Kennedy of Arlo’s Honey Farm in Kelowna about bees and Varroa mites led to
a “fruitful” discussion about invasive starlings with Jane Hatch of Tantalus
Winery. Oceanwide Expeditions spokesperson Rima Deeb Granado answered
emails about landings on sub-Antarctic islands, and biologist David Marson
answered questions about the Asian carp lab run by DFO. Jacqueline Litzgus
invited me to the mind-bending “Thinking Extinction” conference at Sudbury’s
Laurentian University, where Arne Moores of Simon Fraser University provided
perspectives on evolutionary rates, biodiversity, and the unique vulnerability of
monotypic organisms. Axel Moehrenschlager of the Calgary Zoo and University
of Calgary invited me to a workshop on the vanishing sage grouse, my
introduction to the world of captive breeding, reintroduction, and translocation.
Before I’d found any kind of compass, however, my stalwart researcher
Penelope Lafrance gathered the buoyant mass of information required to first
float this wayward ship. My agent, Carolyn Forde, worked diligently to find
someone interested in a popular treatment of a burgeoning and somewhat
intractable subject. That person was Jean Thomson Black of Yale University
Press, who has been both patient and enthusiastic in equal measure throughout.