|
|
Article: Specious claims?
- Article from:
- ROM Magazine
- Article date:
- March 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Royal Ontario Museum Governors. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Conservation biologist Radu Guiasu looks beyond the alarming headlines to assess the true impact of "invasive" species. Barbarian invaders? Or just a case of species xenophobia?
As I was reading the paper one Sunday morning, a rather alarming front-page headline caught my eye: "Attack of the killer worms--foreign invaders threaten saplings and trilliums."
Reading further, I discovered that the article was referring to some inconspicuous non-native earthworm species introduced into Ontario hundreds of years ago whose only apparent crime is eating leaf litter. A harmless activity. The article was vague about the threat but appeared to suggest that these ...