A buffet of invasive species news and notes from around the internet

Make way for the Easter Bilby! seeks to raise awareness about invasive rabbits (and endangered bilbies) in Australia.

Volunteers are taking back the forest in Fairfax County, Virginia.  While they’re at it, perhaps they’ll help save Virginia’s ecosystem through invasivory.

A recent study finds evidence of much higher hybridization between native and invasive trees in human-influenced landscapes compared to undisturbed forests

Identifying and Eating Japanese Knotweed

Encouraging invasivory isn’t always a good thing as evidenced by ongoing struggles in biofuels development.

Recent Eating Invasive Species news fresh from the internet.  It seems this idea is catching on.  Pick of the week: Smithsonian Magazine

Sunday, May 15

DNR Declares War on Scaly Foreign Envader [sic]- Mount-up bounty hunters

Richey: Japanese knotweed highly invasive, edible

Tuesday, May 17

W.Va. organizing events to rid public lands of invasive garlic mustard plants

Wednesday, May 18

Voracious Feral Camels Are the New Cane Toads

Thursday, May 19

Invasive Species Outreach Grant- Money! Applications due June 20th

Friday, May 20

Give squirrel a whirl- I’m looking at you, UK

Wednesday, May 25

11 extreme ways to eat and drink closer to home-  Eating invasives, and several other fun but not-that-extreme ideas.

Making the Best of Invasive Species- Smithsonian Magazine

Friday, May 27

The Tastiest Enemy: Eating Invasive Species

The Weekly Invasivore Round-up compiles our favorite news and blogoshpere  items from the week which we think are relevant to Eating Invasive Species.  This week there’s lots of feral swine, but also shoes, crayfish, crabs and even robots.

Do you have a Round-up suggestion?  e-mail or comment

Saturday, Feb 5

Michigan declares war on pesky feral pigs

I think some invasivores need to take a road trip a little up north from headquarters.

Eat away invasive species and help save the planet

Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatumis) is deliciously sweet and tangy.

Invasive Species: How to Deal with Them?

If you can’t eat them, wear them.

Sunday, Feb 6

Feral, Loose Dogs Threaten Wildlife

Don’t panic, legal issues aside, dog may be one step too far for this Invasivore.  But feral dogs are problem for wildlife.

Burrowing crayfish damage canal banks

American Signal Crayfish are invasive and harmful in the UK.  We’ve got Rusty Crayfish recipes coming soon, and I am sure they will work just as well for British invasivores.

Monday, Feb 7

Abundance of introduced species at home predicts abundance away in herbaceous communities

This research paper was first published online last week, but is creating some serious waves on the internet now.  For example World’s weeds misunderstood, and Study Sheds New Light on Invasive Plant Species.

Tuesday, Feb 8

Attempted crab smuggling nets $2,000 fine

While the smuggler of this Chinese delicacy was caught, the Vancouver Sun reports that eating Mitten Crabs can put consumers at disease risk.  An older National Geographic article, however, promotes its invasivory.  This goes on my list of things to look into.

Wednesday, Feb 9

Feral Pig Diaries Day 2: Do Hogs Like Supermarket Danishes?

Big week for pigs, between this and the Saturday item above.  Also see the Locavore Hunter’s take on pig hunting with Mother Jones.  I am getting seriously motivated to head into Michigan and get me some bacon.

Thursday, Feb 10

Are flesh-eating robots the future of green tech?

Invasivore robots anyone?

Invasive mustard strongarms desert plants, animals

Another edible invader, though a personal note from the author warned us to beware of selenium.  While looking into this, I found this awesome Wikipedia article listing plants with edible leaves.

Friday, Feb 11

Birds in Columbia County were poisoned to protect dairy farm, federal agency says

I applaud the steps taken to control invasive species in general, though I think we could make hot-wings out of these invasive European starlings rather than just poisoning them, which seems to have caught the public un-aware and angered them.  I’ve built a simple trap for starlings and house sparrows out of some recycled materials (see the picture), and I’ll be giving it a try this weekend.  If I catch anything, I’ll certainly be posting details next week.

DIY Sparrow trap prototype from all recycled materials. Photo by A. Deines