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Alien species being catalogued

───   09:36 Sun, 28 Jan 2018

Alien species being catalogued  | News Article
Crown-of-thorns star fish

The first global register of alien species shows that a fifth of more than 6,000 plants and animals catalogued thus far are causing harm.


BBC reports that according to the study published in the journal Scientific Data, some of the biggest factors in their spread are ballast water in ships for marine species and trade in ornamental plants on land. 

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) provides the first country-wide checklists of introduced and invasive species. 

The number of species catalogued for the 20 countries studied so far range from 77 in Mongolia to 2107 in South Africa. 

Invasive species are living things that are not native to an ecosystem. They can harm the environment, the economy, or human health. For instance, rats can cause bird extinctions on islands, while the crown-of-thorns star fish is smothering parts of the Great Barrier Reef. 

Scientists are aiming to complete the register by the end of the year.


BBC


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