Picture:
The image on the left shows an invasive species--a plant called kudzu--that has infested an entire forest. Invasive species like these can ruin entire ecosystems that have been living comfortably for generations.
Summary:
Invasive species are species that have come into an ecosystem that it has never been introduced to before. As a result, these organisms may cause environmental or economical problems, as well as harming human health. Ironically, humans are normally the cause of these invasive species' entrances. When an invasive species arrives at a new habitat, many things can occur, but normally not good things. For example, the species may be able to prey on the other organisms that have not adapted to protect themselves from the organism. The invasive species population would rise dramatically, and those other organisms will be in danger of becoming endangered or extinct; thus causing an imbalance in the ecosystem. Plants could get wiped out, which could harm agriculturalists. The damage caused by invasive species may cost us millions of dollars each year to attempt a solution. Federal agencies are currently working to prevent invasive species from being introduced to environments, as well as educate the public about what those species are doing to the world around us.
Opinion/Reflection:
It upsets me to know that accidents like this scan cause so much trouble for an entire ecosystem. I wish the article was able to give more specific examples on how to fix the problem, or how the federal agencies are attempting to fix it. Also, i was very surprised that about the costs to pay for the invasive species' damages each year. Hopefully we can find a way to prevent any more ecosystems being ruined by invasive species, because there are a lot of problems we are causing the environment right now.
Questions:
1) What can we do as a public to help stop invasive species from occurring?
2) What work are the federal agencies doing to help stop this? Can we be included?
3) What human activities are causing invasive species?
4)How many invasive species are there?
5)Are there any invasive species that are big in the US? What ones?
Reflection:
ReplyDeleteI agree with Haley. I wish people would be more careful about the species they transporting into a new environment. They should look at some of the pros and cons I also wish the article gave some more examples.
I found a good example of invasive species that my science teacher showed us a little about: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5542199
Reflection:
The whole reason why they brought the Asian carp fish in was so that they could control the algae in a catfish farms. They escaped because of floods in the 1980s. They overpopulated and took over the Mississippi River they are headed to the great lakes. They eat off the other fishes food and continue to grow in size.
I also agree with Haley. It's really weird how something that can start out so small can just spread like crazy.People really should be more careful when they bring exotic animals or plants into a new area.
ReplyDeleteAnswering Haley's question 2, I think stink bus are an invasive species. They don't really seem to do much. The only bad thing I can think of them doing is just getting into people's houses and bothering them. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to get rid of them but they're not as big of a problem as some other invasive species.
I also agree with Haley how invasive species are becoming a real problem. The picture up there is really eerie due to how the invasive plant is covering up and taking over the whole forest that were originally there. I think I remember reading about how the invasive species such as rats and pigs took over the island as the human brought them along and due to such damage, the famous dodo birds and other native non-flight bird species went extinct. With the new fast transportation in place, I think us humans should be alot more careful about these kind of disasters that are very hard to stop.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/science/09inva.html?ref=invasivespecies This is a very interesting article to look at. It is argueing that the exotic species are not always so damamging and such. I don't think I agree completely with this but I think it is interesting.
Questions
1)Is there any positive exotic animal?
2)What would be an example of animals that were extinct due to the exotic species?
3)Would natural movement of a specie count as an exotic animal?