Bethany Bradley Featured in 'Economist' Article on Invasive Plants and Climate Change

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Botanists often highlight the threat of invasive plants that spread openly and aggressively, such as Japanese knotweed. However, not all invasive species behave the same way. While some rapidly take over their surroundings, others linger quietly, posing a subtler risk. 

Recent research from Dr. Bethany Bradley, professor in the College of Natural Sciences's Department of Environmental Conservation, and others indicates that overlooking these slower-spreading invaders could be a costly mistake for conservation efforts around the world, including in the United States. The Economist recently featured Dr. Bradley in an article about harmful invasive plants in the context of climate change:

"Invasive species that stay put, known as sleeper species, are not hard-wired to do so. Their natural tendency to expand is, instead, held back by some external factor. With the climate rapidly changing, Bethany Bradley at the University of Massachusetts wondered whether expected alterations in temperature and precipitation had the potential to activate some sleeper species. As she reports in a paper in Biological Invasions, a journal, the answer is a definitive yes.

"Dr. Bradley and her collaborators came to their conclusions by studying 1,795 plant species in north-eastern America identifiable as foreign but not yet locally listed as invasive. Of these, 169 were unquestionably demonstrating invasive behaviour in other parts of the world and causing damage to their environment. That suggested they had the capacity to wreak havoc in America too."

— The Economist

Read the full article in The Economist or through Nexis Metabase.