The widow next door: Where is the globally invasive noble false widow settling next?

Date:  February 11, 2019

Source:  Pensoft Publishers

Spiders are one of the most successful groups of 'invaders' on the planet. Out of over 47,000 species of spiders known today, there are some that tend to follow humans across the globe and settle in habitats far away from their native homelands. A particularly notorious example is the species Steatoda nobilis, the Noble False Widow spider.

Originating from Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain), the Noble False Widow has been rapidly spreading around the globe over the last few decades. While the species is already well established in Western Europe and large parts of the Mediterranean area, it has recently spread into California, South America and Central Europe. Meanwhile, its populations in England, where the spider used to be restricted to the very southern parts of the country, are now seen to experience a sudden expansion northwards.

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California kingsnake wreaks havoc in the Canary Islands

Take Two | May 1st, 2014, 10:21am

The Asian carp threatens the Great Lakes, brown tree snakes are a problem in Guam, Burmese pythons in Florida are all examples of a foreign species invading an area where no natural predators exist. 

The latest species to make headlines is one native to California: the albino kingsnake. 

Somehow it slithered into Spain's Canary Islands and is now decimating native lizards and geckos. Brian Hinds, president of the California chapter of the North American Field Herping Association, will be traveling to the archipelago as a pied piper of sorts.

http://www.scpr.org/programs/take-two/2014/05/01/37232/california-kingsnake-wreaks-havoc-in-the-canary-is/

Underwater Eruption Strews Ocean Surface with Dead Fish

An underwater volcano that erupted near the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa is giving scientists a closer look at how ocean ecosystems could respond to climate change, from dying fish to adapting plankton.

The ecosystem responded much as the researchers would have expected to the high temperatures and changes in acidity caused by the uneasy volcano south of El Hierro island. But the strength of the response was a surprise, study researcher Eugenio Fraile-Nuez of the Instituto Español de Oceanografía in Spain told LiveScience.

"The physical and chemical response of the system was predictable, but we never have imagined that we would reach this magnitude," Fraile-Nuez said. 

The eruption killed or drove away all of the fish in the region (though many were seen floating dead on the ocean's surface), the researchers found. Some phytoplankton, or the floating plants that sit at the bottom of the ocean food chain, were able to adapt.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/21396-underwater-volcano-eruption.html