Podcast Explores the Links Between Storms and Invasive Species in the Pacific Region
A new podcast episode examines how storms increase the risks posed by invasive species on islands and highlights efforts by the Pacific Islands CASC and the Pacific RISCC Management Network to strengthen regional preparedness and response capacity.
An October 2026 episode of the podcast BioScience Talks explores how major Pacific storms can accelerate the spread of invasive species across the region and how resource managers are preparing for and responding to these risks.
The episode features a discussion with Heather Kerkering, Assistant Regional Administrator for the USGS Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center (PI CASC), and Elliott Parsons, coordinator of the Pacific Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (Pacific RISCC) Management Network. In the episode, Kerkering and Parsons discuss how storms can open new pathways for invasive species to spread and establish on islands. Storm winds and flooding can carry seeds, insects, and debris over long distances and uproot vegetation to expose new surfaces where invasive species could establish. Clean-up work and the arrival of recovery supplies after storms also increase the chances that species are unintentionally carried to new locations.
The discussion also covered how El Niño conditions could intensify storm impacts across the region and why remote island ecosystems, whose geographic isolation makes invasive species especially difficult to manage, are at higher risk of invasions than the contiguous United States.
With support from PI CASC, the Pacific RISCC works with managers across Hawaiʻi and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands to adapt invasive species prevention, management, control, and eradication strategies to meet shifting conditions.
Bioscience Talks Podcast: Storms and Invasives in the Pacific, with Heather Kerkering and Elliott Parsons