Biological Diversity and the Ways It Can Be Destroyed, Restored and Maintained

When animals are voluntary or involuntary let into the wild many native species can become threatened by animals that, in the foreign ecosystem, have no natural predators. Pythons in Florida is a great

Calculating the number of different species that are present in a certain area is species diversity. Bigger the number of the species present,

Invasive species make bad situations into worse situations. Having a species from a different ecosystem makes them invasive species. Such as a toad or even bacteria being in another ecosystem other than their natural habitat.

An example of an invasive species is “Cane Toad.” The cane toad was supposed to get rid of sugar cane pest, but then it came a pest. It only has a few predators outside from where it lives.But when animals try to eat it a discharge of poison goes on it’s skin and the predator gets poisoned and dies in a few minutes.Also it has been released into out of zoos on purpose.The cane toad used to live in South America and mainland middle of America, now it has been moved to Oceania and the Caribbean also North Australia.What people do is they eat toad and make soup of their eggs but this ends up killing them.

An invasive species is a plant, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location and one point should be noticed is that invasive species does not have to come from another country. For example, lake trout are native to the Great Lakes, but are considered to be an invasive species in Yellowstone Lake because they compete with native cutthroat trout for habitat. Although there are some invasive species arrive with spread and establish populations, like the native butterflies feed on non-native plants in California, the alien trees help restore abandoned pastures to a condition suitable for native plants in Puerto Rico and even the much-maligned zebra mussel helps filter toxins from great lakes, most policymakers regard invasive

Invasive species often have few natural predators or other biological controls in their new environment. Although not always considered harmful to an environment, invasive species can become agricultural or ecological pests and can displace native species from their habitats. Invasive species are often introduced to an environment unintentionally, as the zebra mussel was to the Great Lakes, but are sometimes introduced for a purpose, as kudzu was to the southern US, where it was originally planned to control erosion."

Non-native species are plants animals and other organisms that are introduced to an ecosystem from which they would not normally be found. This introduction can cause harm to the environment it is now within or to the human health. These species tend to spread rapidly due to having no natural enemies in their new homes. The invasion of these invasive species is recognized as one of the leading threats to biodiversity in an ecosystem. Over the past years non-native species have been introduced to Connecticut. My small community had also been invaded years ago by a blue green algae bloom.

These characteristics allow invasive species to survive and reproduce extremely well in new environments while at the same time negatively impacting the native species. Some of the way in which they negatively impact native species. Some of the negative impacts include but are not limited to limiting or reducing the availability of resources, competition for niche space, reducing the population size of species and altering the habitat composition.

Gotsis, G., & Kortezi, Z. (2014). Critical studies in diversity management literature: A review and synthesis.

A new controversy has arisen, arguing that not all invasive species are bad, and that they can improve diversity and the resilience of ecosystems. I however, believe that the risks substantially outweigh the benefits, and therefore invasive species should not be encouraged. Although it is true that not all introduced species have negative effects and completely destroy their new ecosystem. An example where an introduced species had a positive effect was the himalayan blackberry, that provided fruit to local wildlife and people. However, the plant crowded out native species in a competition for sun and nutrients. Another example is the scotch broom, a plant that is known for its bright yellow flower. It was introduced to beautify the landscape

The introductions of non-native species can cause significant changes to the biodiversity of ecosystems (Hobbs 2000, Van Auken 2000). These changes, often mediated by competition, can affect the physiognomy of a landscape. These changes then affect other species in

Invasive species can take advantage of new areas because there is a lack of predators or parasites to

Another way species can vary is recombination and it shuffles our genes during reproduction to create new gene combinations. Recombination happens when the egg and sperm cells are being made during the process when chromosomes are “crossing over”. During the crossing over chromosomes exchange information to each other. Recombination can also happen to asexual species like bacteria where they transfer genetic information through lateral gene transfer. Furthermore, Variation is important because without it we would all look and act the same. More importantly, another reason why variation is important because they give us aspects on where natural selection can help evolution. For example because of mutation and recombination, they were able to

Invasive species are the second largest threat to biodiversity after habitat loss. To be clear, first off, not all species new to arrive in a habitat become invasive, so not all species are guilty of this. Invasive species that are foreign to a particular part of a habitat can establish a population and start to spread uncontrollably. Invasive species have a huge impact on the ecosystem, their disproportionate effect is what tends to make them so detrimental to the environment.

The latitudinal gradient in species diversity is one of the most striking patterns in the distribution of organisms on the planet. Simply put, the average number of species per unit area increases dramatically the closer the area is to the equator, almost entirely regardless of the type of organism being considered (Pianka, 1994). Researchers investigating the gradient have formulated a wide variety of hypothesis explaining the higher level of species diversity in the tropics. These include but are not limited to: a greater degree of evolution and radiation in tropical species due to the long and relatively stable geological history of the area, seasonal climatic stability and/or predictability,