Marine bioinvaders
Invasive species are commonly spread on ship hulls due to global development, connectivity, and trade. We see the devastation of this especially in major cities, such as the greater Los Angeles area (where I reside), and where we rely on large ports.
Intertidal
fig.1 Charadrius melodus, [threatened] Piping Plover • fig.2 Limulus polyphemus [native] Atlantic Horshoe Crab • fig.3 Carex kobomugi [invasive] Asiatic Sand Sedge
The ranges of these species overlap on the Eastern Seaboard and specifically the shores of Rhode Island. The coordinates 41.48482° N, 71.25036° W reference the West end of a popular public beach, Second Beach, in Middletown, Rhode Island which I frequented while growing up.
While some invasive species have spread unintentionally, on ship hulls due to global development, connectivity, and trade, some were spread deliberately. For example, the Asiatic Sand Sedge was introduced up and down the Atlantic Coast to act as an erosion control and sand stabilizer. Without foresight of how new species will react when introduced to a landscape, humans have a had a tendency to fight fire with fire.
This precise location is where the public shore meets the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge, and is typically blocked off for the nesting threatened Piping Plover. This area is also home to the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab which provides sustenance, in the form of eggs, for the birds. Unfortunately, the dunes have been taken over by the Asiatic Sand Sedge. Preventative and eradication efforts have led conservationists to spray the beach with herbicide. Luckily, contrary to the EcoRI news article about this situation, the Piping Plovers did in fact fledge 4 chicks at this site during the 2023 season.
A portion of the profits from this print will be donated to either the Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island or the Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island for the future conservation of the Piping Plover.
Created for the 2024 (Providence, RI) Southern Graphics Council International exchange portfolio that Michael Ezzell and I hosted, Undercurrents.
Intertidal
Lithography (9-layers) | 11 x 14” | 2024
San Joaquin River Delta
Lithography & Serigraphy (7-layers) | 15 x 20” | 2022
san joaquin river delta
fig.1 Potamogeton crispus [invasive] curly-leaf pondweed • fig.2 Aythya affinis [native] lesser scaup • fig.3 Hypomesus transpacificus [endangered] delta smelt • fig.4 Potamocorbula amurensis [invasive] Asian brackishwater clam • fig.5 Aythya affinis [egg] lesser scaup
The diving duck, the lesser scaup, and the endangered delta smelt are being impacted by the invasive brackish water clam and curly-leaf pondweed! Specifically, this bivalve is an aggressive filter feeder that reproduces abundantly and leaves nothing for the endemic fish only found in the San Joaquin Delta! The scaups eat these clams which have taken over the environment and lose reproductive viability.
Created for the Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI) 2022 conference in Madison, WI for the alumni portfolio, Points of Departure.
coastal southern california
fig.1 Orthione griffenis, [invasive] ectoparasitic isopod • fig.2 Upogebia pugettensis, [native] blue mud shrimp • fig.3 Calidris alpina, [wintering] dunlin • fig.4 Carcinus maenas, [invasive] European green crab • fig.5 Urosalpinx cinerea, [invasive] Atlantic oyster drill • fig.6 Ostrea lurida, [native] Olympia oyster
The green crab is a globally-damaging invasive species and in Southern California in particular it not only decreases native crab populations, increases invasive whelk populations such as the Atlantic oyster drill, increases populations in other invasive clams, but also reduces food abundance for wintering shore birds such as the dunlin. Dunlin often eat native blue mud shrimp but they too are being negatively impacted by an invasive parasite. Population increases of the invasive Atlantic oyster drill have contributed correlated with decreases of the native Olympia oyster.
Created for the Marine Bioinvasions 2023 conference in Annapolis, MD for the trade portfolio and exhibition, Altered Environments. This portfolio is co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and Pyramid Atlantic.
On view in June 2022 at Qrius in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Washington, D.C. Also on view at Pyramid Atlantic, Hyattsville, MD, and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Boone, NC.
Coastal Southern California
Lithography & Serigraphy (7-layers) | 11 x 11” | 2022