Exhibit goes big on small ‘Invaders’

April 22, 2016 12:00 am • Last Updated: April 22, 2016 5:11 pm

Promotional poster for the Connecticut River Museum's new exhibit, "Invaders - They Come by Air, Land and Water!" (Courtesy Connecticut River Museum)

Alien invaders from land, sea and air have taken over the top floor of the Connecticut River Museum and the museum is pleased about it. After all, they invited them. The museum’s newest exhibit, “Invaders,” features alien species that endanger native plants and wildlife along the 410 miles length of the Connecticut River.

“We thought it was a fabulous subject and it would expand our mission and reach a different population,” said Christopher Dobbs, executive director of the museum. Working with Dobbs on the exhibit were curator Amy Trout and environmental educator Bill Yule

Several of the invasive species have long masqueraded as household favorites, like Asiatic bittersweet, brought to the United States as a decorative plant in the 19th century. The plant’s small red berries are a fixture in autumn floral arrangements and holiday wreaths, but rampant Asiatic bittersweet has a consequence as bittersweet as its name: it can grow so thick and heavy that it strangles native plant species.

Some of the alien invaders featured in the exhibit are less familiar, like “rock snot,” an algae that gets its name from the thick mats of brownish-green goo it forms on the bottom of fresh-water streams. Rock snot obstructs feeding sources for fish like trout and makes footing both unpleasant and dangerous for people. In fact, upon the soles of wading boots is one of the significant ways that rock snot spreads.

And then there is the Chinese mitten crab, which gets its name from its hairy claws. The crab, which migrates from salt to brackish water in its lifecycle, blocks native crab species and clogs drainage systems, power plants and water treatment facilities. The mitten crab, native to China and Korea, first appeared on the East Coast, according to the invasive species information center of the United States Department of Agriculture, in 2005.

Invasive species, according to Dobbs, are tricky to define. They are species not native to an area that can multiply without natural predators to keep them in check. Not all imported species are classified as invasive and Dobbs pointed out that what can be invasive in one area would not necessarily be invasive in another. What is beyond contention is that human beings have been the single biggest agents of transmission in the spread of invasive species.

Sometimes the transmission was inadvertent, as in the case of the Asian Long-horned Beetle, which bores into maple trees to lay its eggs and in the process kills the trees. The beetle’s arrival in North America was unplanned; it came in the wooden packing material in which goods were shipped from Asia. On the other hand, purple loosestrife, native to Europe and Asia, was introduced into North America some 200 years ago, and now infests wetlands in such abundance that it endangers native wetland plants and the birds that thrive on their seeds.

The current Connecticut River Museum exhibit blends modern media technique with a tribute to the classic horror movies of the 1950s. Dobbs instructed artist Mike DiGiorgio, who did the posters for the show, to create images that harkened back to the best of the monster flicks. One poster depicts the hairy claws of the mitten crab about to clutch a young woman, her mouth and eyes wide with horror; another shows a prone man about to be eaten by a looming Crazy Snake Worm, a ravenous species that devours nutrients so quickly there is little left to nourish plants.

Using a horror movie theme was central to Dobbs’ concept of how to mount the exhibit. “It was a creative opportunity to capture people’s interest through those movies,” he said.

Beyond the 1950s look created by the art, there are four very modern video touch screens broadcasting realistic breaking news reports of invasion by alien plant and animal species. The news reports, hosted by longtime WFSB anchor Denise D’Ascenzo with on-the-scene disaster commentary by WFSB broadcaster Mark Zinni, are reminiscent, for those whose memory serves, of that science fiction classic, “The War of the Worlds.” WFSB donated its services for the exhibit.

“The videography they did was beyond my dreams,” Dobbs said. “In fact, the whole exhibit would not have been possible without the support of the sponsors.”