Invasive Cheatgrass Spreads Under City Lights

Cortez Deacetis

In his seminal 1949 guide A Sand County Almanac, American naturalist Aldo Leopold warned of the perils of cheatgrass—a tall and furry invasive plant that originated in Europe and Asia. Currently cheatgrass outcompetes indigenous species throughout large swaths of the western U.S., displacing sagebrush steppe grasses and threatening grain and […]

In the absence of genetic variation, asexual invasive species find new methods of adapting to their environment — ScienceDaily

Cortez Deacetis

Without having the positive aspects of evolutionary genetic variation that accompany meiotic reproduction, how does an asexual invasive species adapt in excess of time to a new ecosystem to endure? In all-female weevil species that develop only female offspring from unfertilized eggs, the insects’ survival methods have led to the […]