Pot-plant trade is ‘hitchhiker pathway’ for invasive flatworms, say UK experts | Invertebrates

They have been invading England for years; Gardens, allocations and small mucus -covered animals hunting in greenhouses.

The number of landscapes of non -domestic flat wolves has increased sharply in the last few years, and experts warned that they could destroy worm populations and disrupt the soil quality.

Black flat wolves are non -segment worms that are fed by a series of soil organisms from wood to worms. The number of non -indigenous species in the UK rose from two in the 1950s in 2020. According to Plane Expert Hugh Jones, only a few of them can be categorized as “invasive” because of their “measurable damage” to the ecosystems.

“There are three to be loose in the UK as an invader, two are definitely: New Zealand Flatworm, Australia and Obama are all worms,” he said. You cannot destroy them after the installation, just alleviate the worst of the damage.

Worms are ecosystem engineers. They enrich the soil through the digestive systems and move the organic matter to deeper layers and help to stop compressing nests. According to Ecology Professor Rene van der Wal, the invading flat wolves from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences reduce the number of worms to “extremely low levels .. Knock-on ecosystem effects include a decrease in mole populations as worm diets disappear. There is no definite research on the extent to which this affects agriculture.

New Zealand flat wolf populations are growing in Scotland and North England, Australian flat wolf, Lancashire, Southern Wales and South-West England.

The Guardian said that it has been attributed to global trade, especially in potted plants and soils, especially in potted plants and soils.

In recent years, this regulatory framework has changed. After Brexit, Britain can import potted plants from Europe, but it can only export naked roots. This may vary with the new UK-EB trade agreement, including ornamental plants, which will review “Phytosaniter” plant health regulations. The agreement was accepted as a principle, but the details are still negotiated.

National farmer welcomed with pleasureHe argues that Britain is preparing to re -enter the European plant health field, and argues that we can see an end to boundary control controls and phytosaniter certificates for most plant products traded with the EU.

However, others are concerned that it may accelerate the spread of invading species, including flat wolves. The only flat wolf, which is particularly worried, in the Nature Conservation Union of the International Union of Union, is a new guinea flat wolf. 100 The worst invading alien species list in the world. Some snails on some islands destroyed the population and pose a threat to the snails in Europe. So far, it has been seen in France, but has not yet been seen in England.

“A wild hunter, Smith says Smith. “Found in the greenhouses in Europe, but it has not yet been found in the wild nature. It does not require too much climate change to move and be successful or to be more suitable-for example, some micro facilities in the UK.”

Unlike flying insects, Smith said, “Full wolves rely on human activity for disintegration, which is completely hidden in soil or potted plants,” he said. “Existing biosyal measures are insufficient to detect and cut them, which allows them to escape to gardens and wider rural areas.”

Van Der Wal said the soil was not policing. Plants are controlled within the boundaries “However, they are controlled for those on their surfaces and on the surface of the soil. Sometimes they can look at the soil itself, but they look at the health of the plant, not the autostopian species.”

Instead of dereting the trade agreement, which expands the door to further damage the door, it can go in the other direction and help to close large entry points by prohibiting land and soil imports.

Horticulture industry opposes this. “They say it is easier to move plants in the soil and to maintain it in warehouses, Smith said Smith. However, he said how non -EU imports are already managed and would be simple to expand the application to the EU.

Although Smith is already in the UK, the invading plain wolves in the UK will remain here, the UK-EU Trade agreement offered a rare opportunity to close a “hitchhiopper path için for the development of more invasive species. If this is not done, he warned that British -based invasive flat wolves will be exported to other regions of Europe and other species that were carried to the UK.

Buglife, everyone who finds a flat wolf, Potwatch survey.