The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative is a large-scale invasive species control project working along rivers across the northern third of Scotland.

During this webinar we'll be hearing about how invasive non-native mammals impact on native wildlife through competition, disease transmission and predation. Specifically we'll hear about Grey squirrels and their impacts on our native Red squirrels and how the American mink has impacted on native wildlife. We will also hear about the rare native Scottish wildcat and how hybridisation with domestic cats has occurred and the impacts of this.

There will be plenty of time for questions within the session.

Genetic invasion in cats: blurring the boundaries between the native and non-native.

This thought-provoking insight into hybridisation is presented by Dr Roo Campbell, Mammal Advisor with NatureScot and former field manager of the Scottish Wildcat Action project.

We will explore how hybridisation between wildcats and domestic cats could have occurred and how it might have enabled the descendants of domestic cats to roam further afield than they otherwise might have. We’ll then consider whether hybridisation created a more invasive non-native cat or whether it was the savour of the wildcat in Scotland.

Kill one and two turn up to the funeral: Grey squirrel, reinvasion and squirrelpox outbreaks.

Dr Charles Shuttleworth, from the School of Natural Sciences at Bangor University will be talking about the interactions of Red and Grey squirrels.

Let's explore the management nightmare of conserving red squirrels in the face of relentless grey squirrel dispersal. We will examine applied conservation lessons including the predicted and observed scales of squirrelpox outbreaks in North Wales. We can then consider the utility of gene-drive, immunocontraception and pine marten recovery as measures to control grey squirrels.

How many mink is too many mink: the mink density - damage relationship around the world.

Xavier Lambin, Professor of Ecology at the University of Aberdeen, will be taking us on a global tour of American mink control projects where conservationist have tried, with varied success, to reduce the impact of this invasive species on native biodiversity.

We will find out that they all face the daunting challenge that mink fly!

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The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and NatureScot - for more information about the project please visit www.invasivespecies.scot

This event will be hosted on Zoom. If you don't already have an Eventbrite account you will need to create one to register for this event and access the Zoom link.