Wildlife at the Quabbin:

Below you will find photos of a number of species that make up the ecosystem of the Quabbin Reservoir watershed. Click the thumbnail for a larger image!

Birds	Mammals	Reptiles	Amphibians	Fish

Destructive Species:

A species is termed "destructive" if it poses a threat to the biodiversity of an ecosystem or if it interferes with a popular profit-making scheme. Not all invasive species are necessarily destructive ones. Species become "invasive" if they are transported (most often by humans) to a local environment, where they may find and fill niches that may contribute to the biodiversity of their new ecosystem. Invasives that have reproductive, dispersal and/or resource-gathering advantages may end up crowding out local species, or eliminating them through predation. In the area around the Quabbin Reservoir we studied a particularly devastating destructive species, the +Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation manages the Quabbin Reservoir to maximize water quality. In the last 10 years they have instituted a White-Tailed Deer population control program which distributes a limited number of hunting licenses for the Quabbin Watershed, spurring an outcry among many Massachusetts animal rights advocacy groups. +The White-Tailed Deer Controversy.

More Info:

Global Invasive Species Database
http://www.issg.org/database/species/search.asp?st=100ss&fr=1&sts

Invasive Plant Atlas of New England
http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/ipane/index.htm
http://nbii-nin.ciesin.columbia.edu/ipane/datamaps/ipane.maps.pl

Warm Winter Weather Has Arboretum Blooming
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/10662810/detail.html

Global Economy Spreading Destructive Species: The Invisible Threat of Bioinvasion
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1632

Ecosystems under threat: Invasion of the alien species
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1962989.ece