Download Invasive Species in Ireland Identification Cards

Invasive Species in Ireland
Identification Cards
What are they?
Non-native species are species that have
been introduced, either intentionally
or unintentionally, outside their natural
range. Many of these species live in
harmony with our native species causing
no adverse impacts. A few non-native
species though become what is known as
‘invasive’ as they thrive in our habitats and
out-compete our native flora and fauna.
Invasive Species in Ireland
Identification Cards
How can you help?
Inspect: all equipment that has been in a
waterbody or terrestrial site for attached
vegetation.
Remove: any adhering plant, soil or
animal material before leaving a site.
Clean: power hose all equipment. Use hot
water (> 60 degrees centigrade where
possible.).
Dispose: of all plant material and animal
material appropriately.
Report: Report any sightings on
www.invasivespeciesireland.com
Invasive Species in Ireland
Identification Cards
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Nuttall’s Pondweed
Elodea nutallii
Key features
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Leaves in whorls of 3.
Leaves often recurved.
Gradually narrows to tip.
Often found in still and slow flowing
water.
Spread by fragments.
Impacts
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Clogs waterbodies.
Excludes native species.
Impacts on water based recreational
activities.
Prevents free casting.
Tangles in engine propellers
inhibiting free movement.
Photograph by John Early
New Zealand pigmyweed
Crassula helmsii
Key features
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Also known as ‘Australian Swamp
stonecrop’.
Small white flower.
Spread by fragments.
Impacts
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Clogs waterbodies.
Excludes native species.
Impacts on water based recreational
activities.
Prevents free casting.
Tangles in engine propellers
inhibiting free movement.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Parrots feather
Myriophyllum aquaticum
Key features
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Small feather like side shoots on stem.
Red main stem commonly.
Spread by fragments.
Impacts
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Clogs waterbodies.
Excludes native species.
Impacts on water based recreational
activities.
Prevents free casting.
Tangles in engine propellers
inhibiting free movement.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Curly Leaved Waterweed
Lagarosiphon major
Key features
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Leaves in spiral arrangement not
whorled.
Grows in water up to 5 metres deep.
Spread by fragments.
Impacts
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Clogs waterbodies.
Excludes native species.
Impacts on water based recreational
activities.
Prevents free casting.
Tangles in engine propellers
inhibiting free movement.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Fringed waterlily
Nymphoides peltata
Key features
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Small yellow flower with 5 petals.
Fringe on edge of flower leaves.
Small rounded lily pad (10-15cm max).
Thrives in shallow water (<1.5 metres
deep).
Grows around the edge of lakes and
ponds commonly.
Spread by fragments.
Impacts
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Clogs waterbodies.
Excludes native species.
Impacts on water based recreational
activities.
Prevents free casting.
Tangles in engine propellers inhibiting
free movement.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Water fern
Azolla filiculoides
Key features
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Small fern like leaves.
Green in spring / summer.
Red colour in Autumn / winter.
Impacts
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Prevents oxygen transfer from air to
water.
Can result in low oxygen levels
resulting in fish kills.
Excludes native species.
Can be mistaken for grass.
Photograph by John Early
Floating Pennywort
Hydrocotyle ranunculoides
Key features
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Dense floating mat.
Thrives in shallow still flowing water.
Rooted in water less than 1 metre in
depth.
Kidney shaped leaves.
Distinctive ‘V’ indentation in leaf.
Leaves are typically 2 to 8 cm in
diameter.
Spread by fragments.
Impacts
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Clogs water bodies.
Excludes native species.
Impacts on water based recreational
activities.
Prevents free casting.
Tangles in engine propellers
inhibiting free movement.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Himalayan balsam
Impatiens glandulifera
Key features
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Grows up to 3 metres in height.
Purplish to pale pink flowers in June August.
Hanging seed pods.
Hexagonal hollow stems.
Alternative leaves.
Serrated edge to leaves.
Dark green leaves.
Spread by seed.
Impacts
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Excludes native species.
Leaves river banks exposed to erosion
in winter.
Subsequent potential sediment
impact on fish spawning areas.
Attracts pollinating insects away from
native species.
Photograph by Tom Ennis
Grey Squirrel
Sciurus carolinensis
Key features
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Grey coat in spring – summer months.
In winter the coat can have a
brownish colouration.
Impacts
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Out-competes red squirrels for food.
Carries the Parapox virus to which red
squirrels are not immune to.
Damages trees.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Japanese knotweed
Fallopia japonica
Key features
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Grows up to 3 metres in height.
Yellow / cream flowers in late summer.
Hollow stem / Red stem in summer.
Brown stem in winter.
Extensive rhizome system (roots).
Orange centred rhizome.
Leaves arranged in a zigzag pattern.
Spread entirely via plant and rhizome
fragments.
Impacts
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Excludes native species.
Dies back in winter leaving River
banks vulnerable to erosion.
Subsequent potential sediment
impact on fish spawning areas.
In cases it can damage building
foundations.
Collects litter in urban areas.
Can damage tarmac by growing
through it.
Photograph by Joe Caffrey
Giant Hogweed
Heracleum mantegazzianum
Key features
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Often grows up to 3-5 metres in
height / Leaves expand up to 1.5
metres in width.
Large flower heads.
Large seeds in clusters.
Purple stems with a fine hair like
appearance.
Hollow stems / Spread by seeds.
Impacts
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Harmful to humans due to toxic sap
making the skin sensitive to UV light.
Can lead to the closure of public
amenity areas.
Excludes native species.
Dies back in winter leaving river
banks vulnerable to erosion.
Subsequent potential sediment
impact on fish spawning areas.
Reports suggesting its leaves can be
harmful to young wildfowl.
Photograph by Paul McLoone
Dace
Leuciscus leuciscus
Key features
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Interior mouth – top lip protruding
Concave dorsal fin
Concave anal fin.
Deep fork in caudal fin.
Yellow (not red) eyes
Slim silver/green body
Impacts
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Competes with native fish species
for habitat, food and spawning
substrates.
Photograph by John Coyne
Chub
Leuciscus cephalus
Key features
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Inferior mouth – top lip protruding.
Convex dorsal fin.
Convex anal fin.
Deep fork in caudal fin.
Inhibits rivers with moderate flow, but
can also be found in lakes.
Impacts
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Feeds on aquatic plants and
invertebrates when young. As they
mature they feed more selectively on
larger prey, including young fish.
Competes with native fish species for
habitat and food.
Photograph by NIEA
Zebra Mussel
Dreissena polymorpha
Key features
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Rarely exceeds 30mm in length.
Forms dense clusters on hard surfaces.
Found in freshwater and brackish
waters / Stripped shell.
Spreads naturally within a waterbody
once established / Moves between
waterbodies on boat hulls, fishing
equipment and ballast water.
Impacts
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They do not make the water cleaner.
They filter much of the plankton that
juvenile fish depend upon.
Block out-pipes and clogg engines
and cooling systems.
Block intake pipes / Form dense
clusters on native mussels.
Mask the natural response to
eutrophication.
Can result in toxic algal blooms
impacting on drinking water.
Photograph by Alan Cullagh
Chinese mitten crab
Eriocheir sinenisis
Key features
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Hair like covering (mitten) on its
claws.
White tipped claws.
4 pointed carapace on each side.
The only freshwater crab species
found in Ireland.
Impacts
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Burrows into banks leading to their
collapse in cases.
Carries lung fluke parasite which is
harmful to humans if ate.
Feeds on invertebrates and fish.
Where present in large numbers they
can impact on native fish populations.
Photograph by John Early
Giant Rhubarb
Gunnera tinctoria
Key features
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Resembles a larger version of the
common rhubarb.
Grows up to 2-3 metres in height.
Hairy appearance on the leaves.
Spreads via underground rhizomes
(roots).
Impacts
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Excludes native species by blocking
out the light.
In the winter when it dies back it
leaves slopes vulnerable to erosion.
Subsequent potential sediment
impact on fish spawning areas.
Photograph by Richard Weyl
Hottentot Fig
Carpobrotus edulis
Key features
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Waxy long stems which are triangular
in shape.
Found in coastal areas.
Bright Pink or yellow flowers.
Spreads by seed and from
segmentation.
Impacts
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Excludes native species.
Covers geological rock features.
Covers potential bird nesting areas in
coastal areas.
Photograph by Tom Ennis
Ruddy Duck
Oxyura jamaicensis
Key features
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Blue bill on male.
Upright tail.
White cheeks on the male.
Chestnut plumage.
Impacts
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Male Ruddy ducks out-compete male
white-headed ducks.
They mate with the female white
headed ducks producing hybrids.
They compete for nesting space and
food.
Interbreeding may result in the
eventual extinction of the white
headed duck.
Photograph by Mark Hammond
Common cord grass
Spartina anglica
Key features
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Robust grass with shoots 0.4m - 1.3m.
Spread by both seed and vegetatively.
Yellowish green in Spring / summer.
Light brown in Autumn / winter.
Impacts
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Produces dense monoswards
slowing the movement of water and
increasing the rate of silt deposition.
Raises the general level of the marsh.
Excludes native species.
Reduces the available food resources
for wildfowl and wading birds.
Reduces the area of eel-grass beds
and invertebrates.
Photograph by M.D. Guiry / www.algaebase.org
Wire weed
Sargassum muticum
Key features
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Large brown alga / Air bladders.
Occurs from intertidal to subtidal
range of substrates.
Also occurs on hard rock surfaces and
Eel grass beds.
Grows in dense mats up to 16 metres
in length.
Spreads both sexually and via floating
fragments.
Impacts
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Smoothers native species and Eel
grass beds.
Reduces the light for under story
species / Dampens water flow.
Increases sedimentation.
Reduces ambient nutrient
concentrations available for native
species / Drifts and clogs marinas.
Clogs intake pipes of boats.
Photograph by Julia Nunn
Didemnum spp.
Key features
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Colonial sea squirt.
Grows in long candle wax like
colonies that hang from hard surfaces
such as docks, lines and ship hulls.
It can also form undulating mats that
cover and encrust rock seabeds.
Impacts
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It is spread by larvae and
fragmentation. It is mainly
transported on the hulls of boats,
fishing equipment and ballast water.
Threatens the aquaculture industry.
Smoothers bivalves such as mussels,
scallops, oysters and fish spawning
grounds.
Smoothers seaweeds and sponges.
Photograph by Lin Baldock, Ulster Museum
Leathery Sea Squirt
Styela clava
Key features
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Marine species- Found in shallow
seawater.
Can live in water as deep as 25
metres.
Long club shaped body on a tough
stalk.
Tough surface which is leathery,
rumpled and nobly.
Can be brownish-white, yellowishbrown or reddish-brown.
Each individual has it’s own stalk.
Adheres separately.
Impacts
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Competition for food.
Competition for space.
Fouling ships and other structures.
Fouling native oyster beds.
Fouling aquaculture species
(e.g. mussels & oysters)
Photograph by Judith Oakley
www.oakleyintertidal.co.uk
Pacific Oyster
Crassostrea gigas
Key features
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The shell is extremely variable in
shape and can grow up to 18cm in
length.
The colour is variable but usually
off-white to yellow or bluish grey.
Often extremely rough and sharp.
Can be found in intertidal and
subtidal zones.
Impacts
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Can settle in dense colonies of several
thousand per square meter.
Excludes other intertidal species
where it does.
Can impact on bird species by
excluding their food source.
Can impact on tourism and
recreational activities by covering
shorelines and beaches in razor
sharp shells.
Photograph by Trevor Banham
Forestry Commission England
Muntjac Deer
Muntiacus reevesi
Key features
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Small (approx 50cms tall to the
shoulder)
Brown in summer.
Grey Brown in winter.
Short antlers (up to 10cm).
Large facial glands below the eyes.
Visible upper canines in bucks (males).
Pronounced black lines running along
head / Barking sound made – the
‘Barking’ deer.
Peak activity at dawn or dusk.
Impacts
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May act as a reservoir for various
animal diseases.
Damage to crops.
Damage to under storey species and
rare woodland plants /Damage to new
commercial forestry plantations.
Impacts on woodland management
practices.
Produced by
John Early (NIEA)
Designed by
Gillian Maguire (NIEA)