What’s new: Your recently imported ornamental tree might have a stowaway spider or lizard hidden in its branches, a recent study warns. What’s more, these accidentally transported wildlife can turn into invasive pests in their new environment, researchers say. What the study says: The increasing popularity of imported ornamental plants has resulted in a multibillion-dollar global market. But as the trade grows and expands geographically, so does the risk of biodiversity loss in source countries and the introduction of animals that could become potential agricultural pests in their new environments, the study’s authors write. By looking at a 2017-2018 database of 8,000 animals found in ornamental plants at customs in the Netherlands and public reports of intercepted pests in the U.K. between 2021 and 2023, the researchers found that more than 80% of the “hitchhiking” animals are insects, followed by spiders. Some incidents of exotic amphibians and reptiles have also been reported by people working with ornamental plants in shops and airports. For example, potted olive trees from Italy are likely responsible for the introduction of the Italian wall lizard (Podarcis siculus) and the Moorish gecko (Tarentola mauritanica) to Spain and other areas outside their native range, according to studies cited in the paper. The study found a small number of reported illegal ornamental plant seizures over the last decade. But this is likely to be underreported, the authors write in The Conversation. “It’s hard for the layperson to tell a legal cactus from an endangered one, whereas it’s pretty obvious a rather…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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