Invasive Species

Secretary: Helen Bayliss

Aims:

• To promote knowledge exchange between researchers, policy makers and practitioners with interests in invasive species
• To provide a forum for debate on invasive species
• To facilitate networking, collaborations and complementary research to further understanding of invasive ecology (especially UK BRAG priorities)
• To develop links with national and international groups/organisations that focus on invasive species (e.g. Non-Native Species Secretariat, IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group)
• To encourage an awareness and interest in invasive species among students, young ecologists and the public

Background:

Invasive species are of global importance due to their environmental and economic impacts, and are of interest to researchers and practitioners in many disciplines. In recognition of this, the BES Invasive Species Group was set up in 2003. The Group was successfully re-launched with an informal meeting at the BES Annual Meeting 2008. We hold events every year at the BES Annual Meeting and aim to organise a conference or symposium every other year, with previous conferences being held in London in 2009 and in Shropshire in 2011.

Current / Future Meetings:

We’ve got several events planned for 2013 to help celebrate the BES Centenary.  Instead of our usual biennial conference we will be holding a range of events in partnership with other special interest groups and organisations.  We are particularly excited about Intecol 2013 and hope to see many of you in London next August for what promises to be an exciting and innovative congress.  More information will be available here, in the BES Bulletin, and via our email list and Twitter feed later in the year.

Committee:

We currently have a small committee comprising of Helen Bayliss (Secretary), Rob Francis and Nicola Randall, but we will be revising our committee structure in the coming year.

Contact:

If you are interested in joining the committee, suggesting or hosting an event or would just like to get in touch, please email us. We have an email list, BES-INVASIVE, which we encourage you to join to keep up to date with Group activities and news, and which we use to disseminate our newly-established monthly e-bulletin.  You can also find us on Twitter, @BES_Invasive, where we tweet about relevant news, jobs and information.