Invasive alien species (IAS)
What are invasive alien species?
According to the International Nature Conservation Union (INCU), invasive alien species are the second cause of loss of biodiversity on the planet, just behind habitat destruction.
The rapid spread of invasive alien species (IAS), and the serious environmental, economic and social impact caused by them where they become established, makes an exhaustive control of them necessary.
Control of invasive alien species
Thanks to great knowledge of IAS par excellence and constant updating of work procedures, Cimera always offers first class work, adapted to the country or region in which we find ourselves.
Cimera spent years running studies and projects related to the design and monitoring of IAS control networks. Some applications of this service are as follows:
- Research and development of new methodologies like, for example, the development of new methodologies for genetic screening of zebra mussel larvae in water samples
- Detection of incipient invasions, like, for example, sampling in reservoirs for early detection of zebra mussels through larvae searches in the laboratory, thereby defining the potentially colonisable water masses by invasive species and sampling for early detection and subsequent analysis by optical and genetic means
- Control and eradication of IAS
- Development of Risk Assessment Tools through, for example, GIS analysis for defining areas which could potentially become invaded by IAS, and the development of tools for defining the possibility of a determined species becoming invasive, before it does become invasive in a territory