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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>William W.M. Steiner</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Richard N. Mack</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Daniel Simberloff</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Anthony Ricciardi</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2000</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The growing frequency and impact of biological invasions worldwide threaten biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, resource availability, national economies, and human health (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Ruesink et al. 1995&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Simberloff 1996&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Vitousek et al. 1997&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;). Organisms are spreading into new regions at unprecedented rates. As a result, hundreds to thousands of nonindigenous species of invertebrates, vertebrates, plants, bacteria, and fungi have become established in all but the most remote areas of the planet (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Vitousek et al. 1997&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;). Recent examples are abundant and, in some cases, alarming. Cholera bacteria and toxic dinoflagellates have been discovered in the ballast waters of cargo ships (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;McCarthy and Khambaty 1994&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Hallegraeff 1998&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;). Asian tiger mosquitos—vectors of yellow fever and encephalitis—have spread to new continents in imported truck tires (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Moore et al. 1988&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;). Pasture and crop lands in Australia are being invaded by &lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Parthenium&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, an aggressive Caribbean weed that causes severe allergic reactions in livestock and humans (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Evans 1997&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;). Rapid and widespread dieoffs of native freshwater mussels are occurring in the wake of the zebra mussel invasion in North America (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Ricciardi et al. 1998&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;). [[AQ4]Hardwood trees in American cities are being killed by Asian long-horned beetles introduced with wooden packing crates (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="xref-bibr"&gt;Haack et al. 1997&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050[0239:TAGISF]2.3.CO;2</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>American Institute of Biological Sciences</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Toward a global information system for invasive species</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>