Welcome to the first edition of Double Trouble, part of the Invasive Species Council’s work raising awareness about the dangers posed by weeds and pest animals to Australia’s natural environment under climate change.

Below you’ll find the list to all of the stories in our first edition, we hope you find them both interesting and useful.

Introduction to Double Trouble
While it’s obvious that climate change will create a world of many losers, there will be winners as well. Native species killed or stressed by climate change will all too often be replaced by weeds and feral animals.

Victorian bushfires could pave way for weed explosion
The Invasive Species Council has warned that weed problems could erupt in the wake of Victoria’s devastating bushfires through the spread of donated fodder, which is being used to feed starving animals and reportedly being spread within some national parks.

Killer plant disease could devastate WA biodiversity hotspots
New research is showing that Australia’s most devastating plant disease is likely to cause a massive collapse of native vegetation under climate change in southwestern Australia.

Jury still out on hawkweed invasions
Hawkweeds will be affected by climate change, but not necessarily in the way that any one model predicts. Weed agencies in Victoria and New South Wales have been trying to eradicate infestations of orange hawkweed and king devil hawkweed in the Australian Alps, urging bushwalkers to report sightings.

Worst weed in the west sold as low maintenance lawn
A weed that has infested more than 5.3 million hectares throughout the Murray-Darling Basin and costs the environment $1.8 billion is being mistakenly sold as a groundcover and low-maintenence lawn species, the National Lippia Working Group has warned.

Pressure to open Australia to weedy biofuel
Two international airline companies are pressuring the Federal Government to reverse a ban on a weed that can be grown as a biofuel, Jatropha curcas. It is illegal to bring the weed into Australia, and it is banned in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

More climatic disturbance, more bitou
When Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett recently launched the Bitou Bush Management Manual, the Invasive Species Council took the opportunity to warn that bitou problems will worsen under climate change.

How far south will cane toads move under climate change?
Using a new approach to predict the range of invasive species under climate change, researchers have found that cane toads are likely to move about 100 km further south.

Deadly combination could irreversably damage ecosystems
A recent US report reviewing ecological thresholds and climate change has highlighted the potential for interactions between climate change and invasive species to cause abrupt, irreversible changes in ecosystems.

US researchers call for policy focus on climate change and invasive species
Researchers in the US have called for the introduction of policy designed to deal with the interactions of climate change and invasive species.

ISC campaign shines spotlight on double dangers of invasive species and climate change
Considered in isolation, invasive species and climate change will both have dire impacts on Australian biodiversity. In combination, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Antarctic midgets could reveal shape of future ecosystems
Antarctic researchers are studying the continent’s microscopic creatures as part of their hunt for clues about how climate change may disrupt life around the planet in future decades.

Double Trouble news snippets

• IUCN sounds warning on weedy biofuels
• US report highlights risks of invasive species in warmer waters
• The big question, how will pests and weeds behave under climate change?
• Combination of environmental pressures can crash species populations
• European tree disease may worsen under climate change
• Helping plants and animals migrate under climate change – damned if we do, damned if we don’t

Weeds and feral animals slip under climate change radar
A Federal Government report released late last year has warned Australia needs to invest far more research, funding and public debate into the effects climate change will have on the country’s invasive species.