Invasive species have had a long standing affect on the environmental in many cases causing in unrepeatable damage. Invasive species can occur naturally over periods of time do to climate change or the need for more resources but due to human interaction this problem has increased greatly. People often import plants for food and decoration and animals as food and as pets. These species which are exotic to US or uncommon to other regions in the US are then in some way released into the environment. When these newly invasive species enter their new environment they can cause serious damage to the ecosystem in the area. Several of the main ways that these species cause problems are through competition and their ability to occupy unoccupied niches. These two events can have serious impacts on the ecosystem by reducing or eliminating naturally occurring species which in many cases can cause other species in the ecosystem to suffer. This can have an even greater negative impact an ecosystem.
An example of an invasive species that has caused major environmental and economic damage is the Water Hyacinth. Originally from South America this aquatic plant has now spread to over 50 countries on five continents. The major problem with this aquatic plant is its ability to double its population about every 12 days, covering entire waterways in just months. The Water Hyacinth causes damage in several ways in the United States; through the environment, agriculture, and economy. Environmentally Water Hyacinth grows rapidly covering entire waterways blocking sunlight for other aquatic plant species and algae, depleting oxygen levels for fish life, and interferes with water flow and flood control systems. Economically Water Hyacinth clog waterways preventing boaters both recreational and commercial from traveling causing marinas, docks, and commonly used waterways to be shutdown costing the owner large sums of money. Other economic costs are seen in the state of Florida, which has a major problem with this invasive species, spending millions of dollars a year to control the infestation in their 450 public waterways. Agriculturally water hyacinth clogs water intake pumps and crowds drainage and irrigation ditches causing major issues with crop and herd irrigation. Water Hyacinth is an example of how detrimental invasive species can be to the environment and economics in the United States.
It is important for invasive species to be recognized as a dangerous environmental problem that’s main cause is humans. Policy enforcement could easily help to reduce the occurrence of invasive species causing damage to the environment. After current policies are strengthened and expanded to restrict or scrutinize the import and use of invasive species the next step would to be to clean already damaged ecosystems and to restore biodiversity. Further research could also be done in this area which could in the future produce further policies to manage already largely populated invasive species. The more invasive species are imported for human use the large the risk that ecosystems across the country could be seriously damaged.
While I agree with you about the significance and harm that invasive species cause I can't help but wonder if this concept is a vicious cycle. It seems to me that when a species is introduced into an ecosystem to help control an out of control species the newly introduced species becomes the issue. Thus we are forced to introduce another, creating a cycle that is slowly getting out of hand. Having listened to the student presentation and read your blog, I understand there are some invasive species that are not introduced through human means. My question is, do you think scientist will ever be able to stop introducing these species into the environment? Will we ever reach a happy medium in these ecosystems?
ReplyDeleteI think that part of the solution to the invasive species problems deals with the research done before a species is introduced. There needs to be stricter regulations on preliminary research of species to weigh the impacts of introducing them into a new environment. For example, I am from Chesapeake, and here Nutria are considered to be an invasive species. Nutria are aquatic rodents that feed on weeds. These animals were first introduced because it was thought that they would help control unwanted vegetation, such as weeds. They are now considered invasive because they eating roots of marshlands and eroding the chesapeake bay. If more research was done before these animals were introduced then maybe these issues could of been prevented.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the root cause of evasive species is very clearly humans. Species are brought from around the world for food, pets, decoration, pest control, animal testing, and many other activities that benefit humans. Often policy makers and scientist believe that these practices are alright because in the short term and under the best circumstances they do not cause problems. In the longer term though species that have been introduced into a new ecosystem can out compete many species and in turn ruin entire ecosystems. The fact that many scientist believe that intentionally introducing invasive species is a good solution spurs on many more problems. Unless policy makers make laws or strict guide lines about the introduction of invasive species I do not believe that a balance or a reduction in invasive species will occur. Also other human actions such as global warming are deep lying causes of many other invasive species making it more unlikely that this problem will come to a halt unless major changes are made in human society. If humans make an effort to stop global warming, reduce the intentional introduction of species, and create stricter transportation and use guidelines for non-native species I do not believe a balance will be made.
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