National Geographic - Strange Days on Planet Earth - Part 1 of 4 - Invaders

Summary

The documentary "Strange Days on Planet Earth" delves into the intriguing and alarming impacts of invasive species on our global ecosystem. From termites devastating New Orleans to the destructive power of Nile perch in Lake Victoria, alien species are creating unprecedented environmental challenges. Scientists reveal that the rapid movement of species, facilitated by global transportation, is leading to ecological chaos. These invasive organisms are transforming habitats, causing economic damage, and threatening human health. The program explores how both small creatures, like termites, and large ecosystems, such as Hawaii's forests, are being transformed by these biological invasions. Through various case studies, the series highlights both the potential for ecological devastation and the innovative efforts researchers are employing to combat these threats. Ultimately, the film urges a reevaluation of how humans move species across the globe and emphasizes the need for preventive measures to protect native ecosystems.

Highlights

• A global reshuffling of species leads to ecological upheaval and economic losses 💥.
• Termites have wreaked havoc in New Orleans, destroying property and infrastructure 🏠.
• Lake Victoria's introduction of the Nile perch has resulted in massive ecological shifts and health issues 🌊.
• Innovative solutions like biocontrol are being trialed to tackle invasive plant species in places like Hawaii 🌿.
• The rapid pace of global transport plays a significant role in the spread of invasive species ✈️.

Key Takeaways

• Invasive species are reshaping global ecosystems, causing environmental and economic havoc 🌍.
• Alien species like termites and Nile perch disrupt local habitats and economies, posing threats to human health and infrastructure 🌿.
• Efforts to manage invasive species include creative strategies like introducing natural predators, but these come with their own risks 🐞.
• The globalization of trade inadvertently accelerates the spread of invasive species, creating new ecological dynamics 🚢.
• Awareness and preventive actions are crucial to mitigate the adverse effects of biological invasions on our planet 🌱.

Overview

In the captivating documentary "Strange Days on Planet Earth," viewers are taken on a journey to understand the profound and often unsettling effects of invasive species on natural ecosystems. Starting with the premise that alien species are silently taking over the world, we explore various case studies, such as the termite invasion in New Orleans and the Nile perch's dominance in Lake Victoria. These invaders disrupt local ecosystems, threaten species diversity, and pose significant challenges to human health and infrastructure.

The film also examines the innovative but risky strategies scientists employ to combat these invaders. For example, Hawaiian researchers introduce natural predators to manage the spread of invasive plants. However, these solutions are not without unintended consequences, highlighting the complexity of ecological interventions. The documentary underscores the importance of careful consideration and management of species relocation to avoid exacerbating ecological imbalances.

Ultimately, "Strange Days on Planet Earth" invites viewers to reflect on the broader implications of our interconnected world. By tracing the movement of species via global trade and travel, the documentary raises awareness about the hidden costs of our modern lifestyle. It calls for increased vigilance and preventive measures to safeguard our environment, emphasizing that the actions we take today will shape the ecological landscapes of tomorrow.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 10:00: Introduction to Global Species Movement The chapter titled 'Introduction to Global Species Movement' discusses the unprecedented movement of species across the globe, often unintentionally facilitated by human activities, such as carrying living organisms in luggage. This movement introduces species to new areas where they did not previously exist, leading to unpredictable consequences for local ecosystems. The chapter emphasizes the transformative potential these species have on their new environments, fundamentally altering community dynamics.
• 10:00 - 20:00: Alien Species and Ecological Impacts The chapter opens with an ominous tone, suggesting that changes akin to those found in science fiction are occurring on our planet. It sets the stage for a discussion on the rapid global changes currently underway, changes faster than any human has previously experienced. Investigators are piecing together evidence to create a new understanding of Earth, hinting at the significance and urgency of their work. The chapter raises critical questions about the direction of these changes and humanity's role in potentially altering the future. Amidst this uncertainty, it underscores that in this era of confusion, the pace and magnitude of these transformations are the only certainties.
• 20:00 - 30:00: Termites in New Orleans and Their Impact The chapter titled 'Termites in New Orleans and Their Impact' explores the peculiar and concerning presence of termites in New Orleans. It delves into how these insects, often unnoticed in daily life, have substantial effects on the city's buildings and infrastructure, creating challenges for residents and urban planners alike. While the importance of these impacts might not be immediately obvious to passersby, the chapter paints a vivid picture of why addressing termite infestations is crucial for the sustainability and safety of the urban environment in New Orleans.
• 30:00 - 40:00: Invasive Species in Lake Victoria The chapter titled 'Invasive Species in Lake Victoria' explores the idea of altering one's perspective to notice environmental disturbances, specifically citing the phenomenon of invasive species affecting ecosystems. It draws parallels with other ecological disruptions, such as vanishing polar ice, dying coral reefs, and frogs exhibiting hermaphroditic characteristics. These events are questioned for their randomness or significance.
• 40:00 - 50:00: Bio-Control and Success Stories The chapter titled 'Bio-Control and Success Stories' begins by addressing the contradictory perspectives on the state of the planet, with some believing in impending doom while others believe the planet is thriving. The documentary series aims to uncover the reality of the situation by following scientific investigators around the globe. It is framed as a mystery series where the entire world is the crime scene. The episode kicks off by exploring how researchers are discovering plants and animals in unexpected locations, indicating a shift in ecological balance.
• 50:00 - 60:00: Hawaii's Miconia Issue and Remote Sensing Solutions The chapter introduces the issue of alien species, particularly focusing on Miconia's invasion in Hawaii. It highlights the severity of the problem, comparing it to a potential massive extinction event similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. The chapter aims to explore the causes of this biological invasion and discuss potential solutions, particularly through the use of remote sensing technologies.
• 60:00 - 70:00: Alien Species Impact on San Francisco Bay The chapter titled 'Alien Species Impact on San Francisco Bay' introduces Jim Carlton and his team's efforts in a rapid assessment to discover new species entering the area. Their goal is to identify alien species that may impact the local ecosystem.
• 70:00 - 80:00: Reflection on Global Environmental Challenges The chapter discusses the increasing urgency of global environmental problems. In particular, it highlights the invasion of alien species across every continent. These species possess significant abilities, with some posing threats by damaging the foundations of the land itself, and their reach and impact are expanding.
• 80:00 - 87:00: Conclusion and Call to Action This chapter delves into the issue of invasive species on the New England Coast. Marine ecologist Jim Carlton studies the increasing number of non-native plants and animals affecting local ecosystems. The narrative emphasizes the impact of these species on buildings and environments, calling for awareness and potential action to mitigate their effects.

National Geographic - Strange Days on Planet Earth - Part 1 of 4 - Invaders Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 the number of species that we now move is unprecedented we would be amazed by the number of living things in people's luggage as a species moves it automatically is invading new areas where it didn't exist before we can't predict what they will do once they get loose they can transform in every sense how a community works
• 00:30 - 01:00 [Music] it's like something out of Science Fiction unsettling Transformations are sweeping across the planet and clue by clue investigators are assembling a new picture of Earth they suspect we've entered a time of faster Global change than any human being has ever witnessed where are we headed what can we do to alter the course in this confusing era only one thing is certain
• 01:00 - 01:30 these are strange days on planet [Music] [Music] Earth these are strange days though you might not know it if your world stopped here
• 01:30 - 02:00 step out of the EB and flow of daily life change your lens a little and you can start to see disturbances I'm not talking about the human face on Mars I'm talking about real events Vanishing Polar Ice coral reefs As Dead As bleached bones frogs that are both male and female at the same time but what do these events mean are they just random up ups and downs or
• 02:00 - 02:30 are they part of some worldwide crash for every voice of Doom the end of the world someone else will tell you that the planet is doing pretty well thank you so what's really going on that's what these films will try to sort out as we follow scientific investigators on their cases in a way then this is a mystery series except our detectives have yellow tape that encircles the entire planet this first episode begins with Clues researchers are finding plants and animals in places where they don't belong
• 02:30 - 03:00 alien species they're called think of them as the first wave of an assault that could drive the greatest Extinction since the end of the dinosaurs so what's causing this Invasion and what can we do to slow this Rising tide of [Music] aliens
• 03:00 - 03:30 [Music] [Music] Jim Carlton is looking for aliens and he's not alone a team of investigators is conducting what's called a rapid assessment to figure out what new species have landed
• 03:30 - 04:00 it's part of an increasingly urgent Global Quest alien species have invaded every continent they have enormous Powers some are undermining the very land under our feet they're spreading
• 04:00 - 04:30 disease they're devouring our buildings and every year the number of new arrivals goes up on the New England Coast Marine ecologist Jim Carlton is trying to figure out what this movement of plants and animals means it's a juvenile Maya
• 04:30 - 05:00 he'll spend one hour on this dock one of 20 he'll inspect in a week uh when we first enter a new site it's always a mystery as to what's going to be there we're always interested in whether anything new has shown up around the world we've seen tremendous numbers of invasions in the
• 05:00 - 05:30 last quarter of the 20th century and these appear to be unabated as we move into the 21st century it's sucks onto your hand it'll try to it'll try to attach itself no Lana out here few people even notied this curtain of Life on our Shores but Carlton has always had a sharp eye his fascination with aliens began with a Chance encounter when he was a
• 05:30 - 06:00 boy growing up in [Music] California in the fall of 1962 I inadvertently stepped on this colony of tube worms which Drew my attention to it I realized I had never seen anything like this before in my life a week or so later I discovered in the local nature center the same exact specimens with a label that indicated
• 06:00 - 06:30 that they were from the South Seas and this absolutely piqued my interest into how could something from so far arrive in this little Lagoon in Oakland Carlton was hooked on the puzzle of how plants and animals spread according to this and this has little coming upe strip
• 06:30 - 07:00 I'm in a sense species have always been [Music] Restless living things continually test the boundaries of their [Music] ranges
• 07:00 - 07:30 while species are ready to grab an extra inch we've come along and offered them an extra mile we've built a global system that transports plants and animals along with other cargo they are sometimes passengers sometimes stowaways and they can Now Lea frog over nearly impassible barriers every year brings more volume more speed more alien arrivals
• 07:30 - 08:00 and all of us are fueling the traffic unwittingly every [Music] day with the Relentless growth of global Transportation Carlton believes we may be pushing our [Music] luck
• 08:00 - 08:30 with the arrival of every new species it's very much like Russian Roulette we spin a new species into the environment and the potential for catastrophic impact the society to the economy to the environment is always there Carlton is aware that invasions in different parts of the world are adding up to a profound and alarming story
• 08:30 - 09:00 many of us never see the uninvited guests in our midst but ignorance is seldom [Music] Bliss
• 09:00 - 09:30 [Music] people in New Orleans can no longer trust the floor beneath their feet aliens have invaded and they're spreading throughout the South
• 09:30 - 10:00 destroying property in their path biologist Claudia Regal knows that some homeowners have lost [Music] everything all because of an implacable horde of [Music] animals they work 24 hours a day they don't take breaks they're moving up and down at night during the day they're always searching for food
• 10:00 - 10:30 Regal and others suspect these Interlopers began their Journey half a world away decades ago thanks to a stroke of a pen Tokyo bay general Douglas MacArthur presides over Japan's formal surrender in World War [Music] I US forces in Japan and China pack up to return
• 10:30 - 11:00 home they make crates from local wood the crates end up in garbage dumps near military bases in the South but the discarded containers are not necessarily empty the wood is likely teaming with stowaways aliens
• 11:00 - 11:30 foros subterranean termites over time a dangerous brood builds up its numbers but no one knows that they're even here let alone what they're capable of doing insects are small but in large numbers they can become an awesome destructive force
• 11:30 - 12:00 B
• 12:00 - 12:30 [Music] New Orleans termite Invaders lie low for years but in the 1960s The Big Easy start singing the blues now you think that you got troubles they all over the place I mean there you can't even walk sometime
• 12:30 - 13:00 they'll just hit you all up in the face in your mouth I have actually had them swarm in the door and in the windows when they SP to getting your hair and everything cuz you know you got trouble they ran us out of city park they were so bad s in your night turn tan up your home can't SLE at night baby you know you need some help need federal aid down here yes I'm
• 13:00 - 13:30 trying to tell you I got the termite [Music] Blues talking about the termite Blues hey can somebody help a blues Man a pump house is only one of thousands of buildings Under Siege few though are more vital without buildings like this New Orleans would be underwater one floor below Regal
• 13:30 - 14:00 investigates The Invader tactics the Swarms have disappeared the only Clues are wings jettisoned by the termites after their mating flight the aliens are now hidden in the walls building up new colonies why are these newcomers so successful Regal knows that the odds were against them when they arrived in a place so far from their native land but the Invaders got a lucky
• 14:00 - 14:30 break Southern [Music] Hospitality the Louisiana climate is hot and sticky a perfect match to the insect's home in [Music] China even better New Orleans is built of termite food wood and one Talent of the new arrivals gave them a big Edge over native termite
• 14:30 - 15:00 species the locals only Nest underground but the foreigners Nest not only below but also above ground where they're less likely to be exposed to insecticides and now one city block can host 10 alien nests and their feeding Trails sometimes hundreds of feet long
• 15:00 - 15:30 [Music] [Music] in the South I wouldn't say if it's if you're going to get termites but it's when you're going to get termites
• 15:30 - 16:00 they're everywhere most of the French quarter's homes are infested with termites the others are or should be under surveillance for those who turn a blind eye the penalties can be [Music] [Music] extreme
• 16:00 - 16:30 given the magnitude of the infestation can the beast that's eating New Orleans be slowed down Regal's first step is to locate the aliens she's looking for the supply lines they're easier to find than the headquarters the nests below these metal discs are bait stations strips of wood and a circuit
• 16:30 - 17:00 printed on tasty paper the signal tells Regal the stations are empty we're trying very hard to eliminate these termites but actually what we're going to be doing is managing these termites U because they keep finding a way of rebounding and finding new areas to [Music] infest to control the termites Regal hopes to
• 17:00 - 17:30 exploit one aspect of their lives colonies are intensely social a quality that explains the success of all termites these insects groom each other they communicate by chemical trails they do instant messaging by vibrating their
• 17:30 - 18:00 bodies and most important for Regal they share food after visiting a dozen vacant stations Regal finds an occupied one near the French Quarter
• 18:00 - 18:30 she'll replace the wood bait with poison soaked paper workers will carry it back to Colony headquarters in as little as 3 months the nest could be destroyed
• 18:30 - 19:00 New Orleans is a lesson for people everywhere it's easy to bring in an alien species it can be all but impossible to remove it in the South the proverbial ounce of prevention was worth $1 billion a year
• 19:00 - 19:30 it's not only in New Orleans that alien species have wrecked property in the early 1900s a small creature with a taste for wood collapsed Wares in San Francisco Bay the cost billions in today's dollars in 1929 the Mediterranean fruit fly was spotted in the US potential cost to crops in California alone a billion a year and in the 1980s Zebra muscles from the Caspian
• 19:30 - 20:00 Sea clogged pipes in the Great Lakes region price tag another billion dollars but in the war against alien species more than money might be at stake Invaders could have the power to injure our bodies and compromise our [Music] health Lake Victoria is the world's largest tropical Lake it's also the site of growing Health
• 20:00 - 20:30 threats that many researchers link to invasive species one Predator dominates these Waters the Nile crocodile The Croc is a threat to every large
• 20:30 - 21:00 animal from the depths to the [Music] shores
• 21:00 - 21:30 [Music] reports of croc attacks on people are increasing in Uganda but the number of these Predators isn't Rising
• 21:30 - 22:00 the light of day brings no clear explanations to ugandans and it's not only croc attacks they puzzle over other medical problems are [Music] increasing dissenter cases are up malaria is flourishing and so is another
• 22:00 - 22:30 tropical disease schistosomiasis it causes abdominal pain chills rashes and bloody urine so many show me where you say you're feeling the pain okay so let me examine you you sometimes go to the lake yes we go fishing along the bank
• 22:30 - 23:00 okay what's going wrong in Uganda enologist James Aang has been studying Lake Victoria for years when you bring a new alien species into a new environment you tend to alter the eological setup in the areas where they have been introduced awang believes he can account for the crocodile [Music]
• 23:00 - 23:30 attacks Crocs are a native species but an alien the Nile perch was added to the lake half a century [Music] ago it thrived on a diet of small native fish about 200 of these species fish found nowhere else in the world quickly
• 23:30 - 24:00 vanished it has been called the biggest mass extinction of vertebrates in modern times but what about the crocodile attacks the introduced fish attracted large numbers of new fishermen to the lake with more people on the the lake crossing paths with a crocodile became
• 24:00 - 24:30 more common attacks are often fatal uganda's other health woes Rising diseases are trickier to explain but Aang suspects his country is suffering because of a different Invader one he traces to a Roman that took place decades
• 24:30 - 25:00 ago Legend has it that a foreign engineer working in nearby Rwanda in the 1960s falls in love the man presents his fiance with an exotic plant native to South America water [Music] hin presumably the couple's love grows over the years certainly the water highest
• 25:00 - 25:30 does no one is sure exactly how the forign plan escapes but somehow clumps float Downstream in 1989 water hin was spotted in Lake Victoria 7 years later the weed had clogged 80% of uganda's Shoreline for fishermen and their families it was a
• 25:30 - 26:00 disaster water is has proved that when an alien plant is not well handled it can cause enormous impact in the lives of the local people getting out to fishing grounds became a terrible struggle A reduced catch and lowered income threatened to trigger widespread famine and under the suffocating blanket of weeds rotting vegetation fouled
• 26:00 - 26:30 drinking water which come straight from the lake water hin was causing diseases diarrhea dentry that kind of thing because water was so dirty and awang thinks he also knows how a plant could promote infectious diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis both diseases rely on water and the alien plant creat stagnant pools great breeding spots for
• 26:30 - 27:00 mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite meanwhile along the edges of these floating weeds water snails that Harbor the schistosomiasis parasite find good places to lay their eggs at his laboratory on the outskirts of uganda's capital James Aang is
• 27:00 - 27:30 looking for a way to fight The Invader the weed is taking over Aang believes because it left its Predators behind in its native Brazil why not import natural enemies Aang himself carried them into Uganda 12200 weevils in small cups after making sure the weevils didn't have a taste for local crops awang starts breeding his insect
• 27:30 - 28:00 Army soon he's ready to deploy his forces but bio control introducing one alien species to fight another has had many spectacular failures in the years before World War II some Pacific Islands were plagued by a population explosion of rats Uninvited
• 28:00 - 28:30 aliens someone had an inspiration why not import another species to Smite the rats monitor lizards one small problem the lizards are active during the day when the rats sleep at night monitors sleep while rats cause trouble the two species rarely encountered one another and so the huge reptiles satisfied their hunger with
• 28:30 - 29:00 poultry clearly the giant lizards needed an alternative diet so a third alien species was imported for this purpose can toads as food they have a shortcoming they're poisonous with the death of the monitor lizards there was an explosion of can toads which were eaten by another alien species [Music]
• 29:00 - 29:30 cats without cats the rat population exploded bio control is no job for [Applause] amateurs on Lake Victoria fishermen are pitching in helping to spread the Weevil infested water hent [Music]
• 29:30 - 30:00 [Music] and the imported insects quickly start feasting the health of ugandans now depends on insect appetites the adults punch holes in the leaves which then ride lower in the water and catch less [Music] sunlight meanwhile just out of sight the larv are doing an inside
• 30:00 - 30:30 job within the leaf stalks it's like living in a food trough when the larve are ready to mature they move underwater each builds a shelter out of root hairs damaging the weed's ability to take up food in these woven underwater baskets larv become adults
• 30:30 - 31:00 [Music] [Music] top floor [Music] foliage and now the Next Generation starts in another cycle of constructive
• 31:00 - 31:30 destruction to find out if the weevils are doing their job Aang surveys like Victoria
• 31:30 - 32:00 water hent is declining sharply the surviving plants are weak and infested Aang's biocontrol program is [Music] working it was amazing that this kind of very tiny things would do anything useful I remember a comment somehow that what can these two these tiny W do these are joke these W are a joke kind of 5 years after we had released
• 32:00 - 32:30 the wvil Miracles happened and the hin is no more with the alien weed coming under control Lake Victoria is becoming healthier fishermen have better access to food again drinking water is less fouled with rotting vegetation and a foothold for diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis has been sharply reduced the Weil's triumph over water hent is an uncommon success story in
• 32:30 - 33:00 many other places people are still struggling with alien species Asian tiger mosquitoes arrived in North America in the mid 1980s in shipments of used tires these insects can carry West Nile Virus the United States is being invaded by fire ants from South America and Killer Bees Escape African hybrids both species are taking human
• 33:00 - 33:30 lives as they spread from the south the brown tree snake from New Guinea has invaded the Pacific island of Guam with its venom and strangling coils it poses a potentially lethal threat to children but invasive species can do more than threaten our bodies so there's an upsurge of health problems around Lake Victoria and buildings are tumbling down in New Orleans well we can fight disease and we can build stronger houses but that's not
• 33:30 - 34:00 the point not long ago these far-flung glitches would have been written off as white noise isolated events without significance but now we realize they may be warnings of a deeper unrest they may be undermining the very earth on which we stand Bist David Duffy is tracking an Invader one that threatens to send Hawaii's soil crashing into the sea this
• 34:00 - 34:30 a new thing loose in the forest there's a new species there that's uh changing the way the forest [Music] [Music] works Duffy believes that one particular alien
• 34:30 - 35:00 species is poised to trigger massive landslides a new source of erosion is a dangerous
• 35:00 - 35:30 Prospect for these islands erosion is already a menace in Hawaii
• 35:30 - 36:00 the runoff can be devastating to Native species as the islands wash away Coral is bathed in sediment over time this treatment can kill it and threaten the creatures of the [Music] reef
• 36:00 - 36:30 on land erosion threatens thousands of species found nowhere else in the world even without erosion these unique plants and animals are already on the retreat under pressure by pushy invasive species Hawaii does look beautiful it looks like paradise but most of the Palms are are all from uh somewhere else the uh parrots are from somewhere else Hawaii is so thoroughly invaded
• 36:30 - 37:00 that most people can recognize few native species the flowers in the Lays sugar cane macadamia nuts even pineapples most of what we think of is typically Hawaiian comes from someplace else but none of these is what Duffy is pursuing his Quarry the species that threatens to cause landslides arrived in Hawaii
• 37:00 - 37:30 because someone was seduced by [Music] [Music] Beauty [Music]
• 37:30 - 38:00 in the mid 1800s an Explorer in the jungles of Mexico encounters a tree with thick leaves and beautiful purple undersides smitten he ships his treasure to Europe where it becomes a sensation among botanists in 1961 a Botanical Garden in Hawaii
• 38:00 - 38:30 welcomes the plan as a gift and soon miconia is being sold at nurseries it becomes a popular decoration no one could have foreseen that the plant would turn into a dangerous destabilizing Menace
• 38:30 - 39:00 plants seem gentle enough but members of this Kingdom can be as ferocious as anything on four legs plants can fight for resources use chemical warfare and strangle each other
• 39:00 - 39:30 in the case of miconia its escape from backyards and Gardens didn't take long it had an accomplice the Japanese white eyye another imported species the bird excels at spreading seeds which miconia has in abundance each flowering head has a few hundred small fruits Each of which holds about 100 tiny seeds a single tree can get out of
• 39:30 - 40:00 control each flowering event May produce up to 3 million seeds and this happens three times a year you have the potential for just explosive growth of these trees across the [Music] forest in only 40 years the invasive tree spread over 10,000 Acres on the big island and this Duffy fears puts Hawaii
• 40:00 - 40:30 at grave risk of landslides how a foreign plant weakens the soil can be found in its tactics for taking over a forest it grows fast casting shade on native plants as Hawaiian plants die All That Remains to hold the soil is micon's sparse shallow roots the uh ground gets very loose uh the
• 40:30 - 41:00 whole earth can just slip and the plants can just take off on sort of a tobogan ride down the hillside miconia is so easily spread that Duffy wears dedicated shoes on the job to avoid making the problem worse himself how can such a prolific Invader be [Music] stopped and here's a patch I hadn't noticed before ecologist Greg Asner is trying to
• 41:00 - 41:30 find a way to identify the alien tree from aerial images position ourselves directly over the patch and put knee on the sunlet side flying over the Big Island Asner measures light reflected from the forest including parts of the spectrum the human eye can't see remote sensing is very important to us for mapping miconia and other invasive species because it's nearly impossible given the terrain in Hawaii for ground Crews and and field
• 41:30 - 42:00 Personnel alone to be able to get in and actually map where all of these infestations are these helicopter measurements must now be linked to what's taking place on the ground this is a good point Asner gathers miconia leaves and records for each one a precise longitude latitude and altitude using a device that can read signals from global
• 42:00 - 42:30 positioning satellites even through a thick forest canopy with plenty of satellites really how many are you getting 10 in asner's version of a tailgate party he next measures how each alien Leaf reflects light he's now ready to make connections Asner Compares Leaf measurements on the ground to the canopy Spectrum measured from the helicopter but he doesn't stop there he uses images of whole ecosystems shot from converted U2 spy planes and even bigger views of
• 42:30 - 43:00 entire regions taken by a satellite Asner has put these different views together the result from the air he can identify miconia infestations the orange spots in these images before they get out of control it's a big break the battle against the Invader can now kick into high here and not a moment too soon repel onel
• 43:00 - 43:30 onell go for it there is no one you need to pick up tension you're good Jen copy that I call it the green Abola it's deadly it's spreading and it's going to kill our forest and our native ecosystems unless we stop and that's going to mean that they're
• 43:30 - 44:00 going to be replaced by just a single purple leaf monster that takes over everything kill kill so every time I I get depressed and think we're losing uh I come across a group that's restoring a part of forest or even some crazy person who just refuses to let some species
• 44:00 - 44:30 die people are out there and they care thanks to efforts like this the alien is being contained on the big island fighting Invaders doesn't always require specialized gear and training around the world Ordinary People are struggling to save their own neighborhoods on the Big Sur Coast in California a group called weed Warriors is slaying ice plant a South African
• 44:30 - 45:00 Import which threatens native plants on Bluffs and dunes in turn South Africans are fighting trees from Australia trees which promote dangerous fires and divert water from people who need it so what does it take to stir people into action we may put up a fight when an alien species threatens a cherished landscape Prospect Hawaiians are already facing we may take action when exotic
• 45:00 - 45:30 plants and animals damage our health in our homes but what about a menace that's less visible many say there's one just Beyond the Horizon it's not just another clue it's what all of the clues have been pointing to when everything moves everywhere what will survive
• 45:30 - 46:00 [Music] Jim Carlton is worried about where the great reshuffling of life is taking us the Port of Oakland in Carlton's Hometown may offer a glimpse of the future cargo is arriving here in San Francisco Bay at twice the rate it did only 20
• 46:00 - 46:30 years ago it's part of a global pattern of accelerating Transportation more vessels more volume more speed some of the most outstandingly abundant species have simply arrived in the past 10 or 20 years this is a a conveyor belt of species coming through the Golden Gate as the globalization of trade drives the
• 46:30 - 47:00 globalization of species we're creating a strange jumbled World unlike anything this planet has seen each arriving ship is an opportunity for Invaders it's not just the containers that may hold stow away species inside can be millions of gallons of sea water to help balance the ship when a single vessel's ballast tanks are emptied Dockside hundreds of species
• 47:00 - 47:30 from far away ports may be seeking a new [Music] home at any given hour on any given day at least at least 7,000 species are likely in motion traveling across oceans
• 47:30 - 48:00 and between oceans for a startling potential for what may be in fact one or two new invasions somewhere in the world every day how is this alien tsunami change San Francisco Bay see what's on them to get an update Carlton joins members of the Smithsonian Environmental
• 48:00 - 48:30 Research Center collecting plates have been underwater for up to 2 years today researchers will get their first look at what is stuck all right all kinds of stuff on this this is probably one of the Japanese species and intermixed is a little bit of helic Andria a sponge from New England introduced with
• 48:30 - 49:00 oysters we have a sayona here this is a SE squirt native to the North Atlantic Ocean remarkably Carlton finds only a single native species we got one example of a native species uh this is the native oyster Austria a species amazingly abundant once in the 19th century so this May well have been one of the more common 99% of marine life by weight in much of
• 49:00 - 49:30 San Francisco Bay now comes from someplace else this right here this whole such a rapid Global remix is unprecedented in the history of life we got a Bas of oysters if natives are already a 1% minority living in the margins what might happen next number ofans and sponges some researchers including Carlton see the potential for a dark outcome Extinction on an epic scale Austria Austria
• 49:30 - 50:00 con the opportunity for species to move was limited for most of the history of [Music] life big animals sometimes transported smaller animals and seeds but only as far as they could swim fly or [Music]
• 50:00 - 50:30 walk and from time to time a lucky species would survive an ocean [Music] Odyssey
• 50:30 - 51:00 but movement was slow and rare until we came [Music] along now with the growing traffic of ships and planes eventually almost everything will have a chance to move everywhere fully interconnected Earth will be like a plan planet with a single
• 51:00 - 51:30 continent many researchers believe that a single connected piece of land can support far fewer species than the same area carved up into isolated islands and continents species Without Borders means many fewer species which is why some predict that up to 2/3 of land mammals may become extinct worldwide invasive species are already the second greatest cause of Extinction
• 51:30 - 52:00 behind habitat [Music] destruction now we have a very different view of the world which is in part that no matter what has passed do no further harm but also more profoundly recognizing that our ability to predict what will happen when we insert a species into an ecosystem remains extraordinarily
• 52:00 - 52:30 [Music] poor for as long as we have walked this Earth we've taken plants and animals with us for company food and decoration and of course we've always had our share of
• 52:30 - 53:00 stowaways as we gain the technology to move more and more faster and faster we failed to imagine the dangers ahead if we thought about our living cargo it was often with the childlike belief that it would only improve our lives in new lands now that we know the destructive power of alien species will the great
• 53:00 - 53:30 reshuffling continue unabated what is it worth to be more cautious in our individual actions as Travelers and consumers to be more cautious as societies watching over the vehicles and vessels that tie us together what will it cost not to [Music]