A recent issue of the journal, International Reptile Conservation Federation (IRCF), contains two short articles featuring recent observations of two new species introductions to Abaco. Below, I relay these findings and offer a few thoughts on what these recent observations suggest for the future of Abaco’s fauna. […]
Here is a popular press piece (link here) on the first documented sound production in lionfish. The original paper well qualifies that these data are just preliminary, but very interesting what role this sound production may play. Here is a paragraph from the article with some speculation:
Sound is a critical component of fish social behaviour and sound production […]
Came across this short paper about a termite introduction on Abaco. Here is another paper by the same author that describes how the initial introduction of this species in Florida was one of the first exotic introductions for any termite species. And if you are a real termite geek, here is the taxonomic guide for the group […]
Corn snakes (Pantherophis guttata) are non-venomous snakes native to the Southeastern United States. A few years ago I documented an introduced population of corn snakes established right outside of Cherokee on Abaco (LINK). There have been a few sightings of corn snakes from that area since. Usually, reports are of dead snakes on the Cherokee road (where everyone goes crabbing). Until […]
Last year I reported on hearing a chorus of narrow-mouthed toads (Gastrophryne carolinensis) here on Abaco (link to original post). However without a specimen I couldn’t confirm its presence here. Almost exactly a year later a high school student, Donte Richard, remembered that post and called my attention to an adult in his backyard.
This new observation is about 850 […]
Andrea Anton’s paper on prey naiveté to lionfish predation threat is finally out. Here is the paper summary…
Native prey can be particularly vulnerable to consumption by exotic predators. Prey naiveté, the failure to recognize a novel predator due to lack of recent co-evolutionary history, likely facilitates the disproportionate impact that some exotic predators exert on prey populations. Lionfish Pterois volitans, […]
A guest post from Julia Stevens, who we are collaborating with on a new lionfish project….
Lionfish have a close relationship with the bacteria living on their skin. Some of these bacteria, seemingly acquired from the environment, are part of a core microbiome that contains similar taxa in both the invaded and native ranges of the lionfish. Overall, the […]
Commonplace in many biology courses, laboratory dissections allow students to investigate external and internal anatomy. Unfortunately, many dissection kits contain preserved specimens with faded coloration. At Forfar Field Station on North Andros Island, we have replaced traditional fish specimens with invasive lionfish. Local lionfish removed from Stafford Creek and Fresh Creek provide students with realistically colored models. Students are […]
Another fascinating study out of Rob Dunn’s lab at NCSU. In short, it is an attempt to identify what exotic species may have traveled to the Western World on Columbus’ and other conquistadors’ ships. In Robb’s words: “What we do know is that the ships were likely to have been teeming with thousands of other species, that were incidentally transferred […]
Over the last few weeks I’ve been noticing extensive damage to shrubs and small trees. The bark has been removed over long sections of living and (now) dead plants. I wondered what could be doing this.
I had a few ideas. The first possible culprit was pigs. I’ve been seeing a lot of pig sign out in the woods, and marshes. […]
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