Biosecurity interceptions of an invasive lizard: origin of stowaways and human-assisted spread within New Zealand.

ABSTRACT: Globalization, and the resultant movement of animals beyond their native range, creates challenges for biosecurity agencies. Limited records of unintentional introductions inhibit our understanding of the trade pathways, transport vectors and mechanisms through which hitchhiker organisms are spread as stowaways. Here, we adopt a phylogeographic approach to determine the source and human-mediated dispersal pathways of New Zealand's only invasive lizard, the delicate skink (Lampropholis delicata), intercepted by biosecurity agencies in New Zealand. Biosecurity agencies correctly predicted the source region of 77% of stowaways, which were usually solitary adults, arriving via air or sea pathways during the cooler months, evading initial border checks and alive when detected. New arrivals from

SUBMITTER: Chapple DG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3586621 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature