Gary Hartley

Residency project

Across borders: living with Europe’s travelling invertebrates

Invasive species are arriving in Europe at speed, but public discourse is often shaped by media-driven panics. I propose a different approach: to understand invasions from the perspective of the invaders.
Germany is a hub for new thinking in invasion science. Based at the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History, I will follow genomic research on non-native ants and slugs using machine learning to examine how invasive species expand, compete and hybridise. At the same time, I will also look how societies respond to new arrivals, bringing in fresh ideas from outside the museum.
Ultimately, I will ask: what makes an invader successful, can future invasions be anticipated, and what can we do to live with less friction alongside the species that are sticking around?