Pest (plant, animal) species

The Asian Green Mussell is an introduced marine pest Introduced species (‘exotic’, ‘invasive’ or ‘alien’ species) are species moved to locations outside their natural range by human-mediated dispersal. Such species are considered ‘pests’ if they threaten human health or environmental and economic values. Introduced pests and diseases may pose the most important long-term threat to coastal ecosystems.

View a conceptual model of potential causes of a change to pest (plant, animal) species and the condition responses observed as a result of this change.

 

Potential indicators

There are a number of causes and symptoms related to this stressor. The following indicators are recommended for the stressor ‘ Pest (plant, animal) species’:

Pressure indicators

Indicators of pest (plant, animal) sources:

  • Presence of ‘key’ aquatic pest species in adjoining areas
  • Presence of ‘key’ terrestrial pest species in adjoining areas
  • Presence of port/harbour/marina and related boating activity
  • Presence of aquaculture facilities using marine species non-native to the region

Indicators of direct pressure:

  • None

Vulnerability indicators

  • None

Condition indicators

Physical-chemical condition indicators:

  • Occurrence of pest (plant, animal) species
  • Percentage area impacted by pests

Biological condition indicators:

  • None
Possible causes Possible symptoms
The actions/events/situations that might induce this stress: The actions/events/situations that might arise from a change to the stressor:

Background science

 

Other information on introduced species

International

COTSWATCH International. On the Great Barrier Reef the Crown of Thorns Starfish control survey program has been running since 1993. This page provides information about the program, about the Crown of Thorns Starfish and an opportunity to fill out a survey form.

Australia

Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.

CRC for Weed Management .

Introduced species in tropical waters. Download the information brochure from this site.

Invasive species Council. This page provides information about native species in Australia .

Marine pest mapping and information system MAPMI is a prototype information portal and mapping system to support the National System for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pest Incursions.

National Introduced Marine Pest Information System (NIMPIS) was developed to provide managers, researchers, students and the general public with access to accurate and up to date information on the biology, ecology and distribution of introduced marine species, and potential control options for those design.

Weeds Australia includes an internet search engine for weeds in Australia .

Weed identification resources This page provides a list of internet resources for weed identification.

New South Wales

Marine pests. This site provides information about marine pests, how they are introduced, what impacts they have and what species of marine pests are in New South Wales .

NSW North Coast weeds advisory committee. This website gives you access to a wide range of information and pictures on individual noxious and environmental weeds found in the north coast area of NSW (from Nambucca Shire to the Queensland border. It also provides access to numerous documents.

North west weeds Information on noxious weed control unit for the Shires of Gwydir and Inverell (NSW, Australia ).

Queensland

Noxious fish – species information. Species information about noxious fish of Queensland .

Weed and pest animal management .

South Australia

Coastal weeds. This page provides a link to a PDF document which identifies and addresses a selection of common garden plants that are having significant impacts on the coastal bushland.

Marine pest species. Information about the distribution of key marine pest species in South Australia .

Tasmania

Coastal weeds of Tasmania. The Coastal Weeds of Tasmania booklet contains descriptions and management recommendations for 50 environmental weeds and has a list of alternative Tasmanian native coastal plants for use in garden plantings. Includes colour photographs for each weed.

Marine pests. This page is dedicated to marine pests with links to prevention, early detection and emergency response, rice grass: management and control, pest identification and the Undaria Action Plan.

Victoria

Pests, diseases and weeds. This site provides a list of weeds in Victoria , with links to information about each weed species .

Freshwater and marine pest species. Information about marine and freshwater pests, where they come from, their impacts and management responses.

Models

Australia

Climex is a software tool in use across the world to help understand the threat from invasive species. Information about this model can be found on this page.