Why citizen scientists are key in the fight against invasive species

Creating a biosecurity crisis is shockingly simple. In the 1850s, Jane Paterson, a settler near Albury planted seeds of a European plant with an attractive purple flower in her garden. She had no way of knowing that plant would spread across southern Australia and become known as Paterson's Curse (Echium plantagineum), a weed that's since infested plenty of previously productive grazing pastures.