Chilean Needle Grass : A Recent Weed Incursion Into North Canterbury

Brumbies are known as the feral horses that inhabit Australia- mostly throughout the Northern Territory, Queensland and scattered centrally in Western Australia. Some small mobs live within Victoria and New South Wales, but none as vast or dense in population. These horses influence the natural habitat in many ways- they reduce vegetation growth, cause soil erosion and impact upon other animals living within the ecosystem. They are seen as pests to national parks, and essentially, this is the reason for their culling- they cause more damage than they are worth. The only positive aspect a brumby herd will impose is that they maintain walking and driving tracks throughout state parks.

Plants are found everywhere on earth, up high on the ridge and down low in caves and caverns. The types of plants that live in these places depends on many factors. These factors are separated into two different categories, the biotic factors and the abiotic factors. Some of the biotic factors include, predation, competition, and habitat destruction. Plants with limited competition and large amounts of resources will be in a higher abundance than plants with limited resources and higher competition rates will be confined to areas and either out competed or will be the dominant species. Certain plants adapt to these factors and thrive and others don’t do as well. Some of the abiotic factors include, sunlight, water, temperature, and wind. These

The Maryland ecosystem is being ravaged by several invasive species. These species are introduced into the ecosystem in several ways, with several discoveries of invasive species every year. Whether it be Wavyleaf basketgrass or Purple loosestrife, these plants are capable of outcompeting with native plants and causing devastation to the native ecosystem. These invasive species are damaging to the environment and we should work as a community to halt the spread and limit its impact on the ecosystem of Maryland.

Issue: The environmental issue that I have chosen is the impact that invasive species have on the environment. The impact that invasive species have on the environment is vast, yet little is done about it. This issue is extremely important and will impact the world for generations to come. In this paper, I hope to learn about the effect they have on environment and what we can do about it.

My invasive species that I’m investigating is the American mink it is invasive in England. The American mink came from North America, and got brought to England in 1929 for fur farming.

Biodiversity boots ecosystem productivity where every little species plays an important role in maintaining a healthy community. Maintaining a viable habitat requires lots of efforts, determination and frequency. Invasive plants are a major threat to our natural environment. These invasions change the natural diversity and balance of ecological communities. They threaten the survival of many plants and animals. They are excellent at surviving and reproducing which out-compete the native plants. Understanding these huge consequences let us understand why volunteer activities like this are so helpful and needed. They play a huge part in contributing to our environment in many positive ways. Removing these invasive plants are helping a lot in restoring the habitat and giving native plants greater chance for survival. As time went by, these efforts will slowly help cleaning our atmosphere, providing our environment with fresh air and improve health effects in human (Sagoff,

Georigia Invasive Species Task Force. (2005, March). Invasive Weeds in Georgia. Retrieved from Georigia Invasive Species Task Force:

An example of an invasive plant includes the Canada thistle. The Canada thistle harms the environment because it, “crowds out and replaces native plants, changes the structure and species composition of natural plant communities and reduces plant and animal diversity… prevents the coexistence of other plant species through shading, competition for soil resources… through the release of chemical toxins poisonous to other plants” (Canada). The Canada thistle’s only special way of harming the surrounding environment consists of poisoning the plants that surround it. Otherwise the Canada thistle does not have any special ways that it harms the environment. People brought the Canada thistle to the United States in the 1600’s. By the year 1954, Canada and the United States of America declare the Canada thistle as a “noxious weed.” However now many consider the Canada thistle as an invasive plant (Canada). The Canada thistle has many ways that you can control it. You can cut it by hand, pull the plant out, burn them, or use chemicals to kill these plants. The best way to get rid of the Canada thistle encompasses using chemicals. If you do not have any chemicals to do this job you can always cut the plant down to the ground, and when it regrows do this again until the roots become exhausted

A. One of the primary concerns in Stillwater County Montana (MT) (See Attachment 1) is the continued spread of the noxious weed, spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe, formerly C. maculosa), along the Stillwater River. (See attachment 2 and 3). The Spotted Knapweed Control Plan (SKCP) is designed to treat and manage the current and future infestation of spotted knapweed along the gravel bars and bank sections of the Stillwater River. The several previous attempts to control spotted knapweed in this area have only been somewhat successful. The SKCP utilizes four treatment methods to effectively reduce and eliminate spotted knapweed in the designated sections: 1). Biological control; 2) Grazing Control; 3) Manual Weed Control; and 4) Herbicidal Control.

Originating and found from countries near the Mediterranean, the French Broom was brought to California, more specifically the Bay Area, as a decorative plant in the 1800’s. The plant grows rapidly, with thousands of seeds being produced every year, especially through the months of April and July. Seeds scatter more than 10 feet away from its plant, and animals scatter them away even farther. French Broom prevents native plants from growing and reproducing. For example, the article explains, “It is a strong competitor and can dominate a plant community, forming dense monospecific stands” (“Invasive Plants”). Eating the seeds has also been known to cause paralysis and digestive disorders in animals. The seeds can also survive in icy and chilly

Influence on ecosystems range from human causes like the bulldozing of a forest to natural causes like a fire or a flood.  In recent times, the introduction and spread of invasive species has transformed native communities rapidly and, in some cases, created irreversible damages.  In the Earth’s history, changes have often occurred in the ecosystems.  For example, glaciers and the retreat of glaciers cause wide-spread changes.  However, although change is a constant in ecosystems, animals and habitats often cannot adapt to the rapid alterations of non-natural stresses.  Harm to the environment from the introduction of invasive species occurs through changes in the habitat and declines in the native species.  Invasive species

There are problems in obtaining measure of hazard posed by weeds and quantifying uncertainty and variability (Hulme 2012). Labelling on a scale of one to three may also neglects complexities of the species and limit accuracy of the evaluation. Pheloung et al. 1999 proposed that the environmental questions were originally targeted at environmental weeds, which therefore limits the ability to identify forest invaders (Dawson et al. 2009). Also, Daehler et al. (2004) found that it could identify invaders of natural ecosystems in Hawaii and Pacific islands more or less as well as invaders of ecosystems altered by humans. However, communities of islands are rarely undisturbed, diverse or as complex as continental equivalents and therefore expected to be invaded by exotic species (Denslow 2003). It has been suggested that the Weed Risk Assessment does not operate as it should, and only applies to new plants, not to species already in Australia (Lowe 2003). Finally, people may fail to understand the criteria set out in the assessment. A better explanation for each question may be necessary to achieve accurate outcomes into the impacts of the

This species is currently considered invasive on the west of Ireland. It is not yet invasive in other areas of the country due possibly to climatic and environmental conditions. This could also reflect the early stages of the invasion process. The plant (giant rhubarb) invades a variety of habitats, such as grassland, waterways, roadsides, quarries, bog, heath, coastal cliffs and especially old former agricultural fields, where it may form large continuous stands. Due to the size of the plant access to sites infested with Gunnera tinctoria is difficult, making control measures problematic. The likely vectors of spread for Gunnera tinctoria are waterways, birds, and by anthropogenic activities such as the clearing of ditches, road building, and movement of soils for housing development.

Cheatgrass is the common name for the species Bromus tectorum L. and belongs to the grass family Poaceae (USDA 2015). This invasive plant was originally reported in eastern North America but now it is dominant in the Intermountain West (Huttanus 2009). The genetics of 192 North American populations of Bromus tectorum is studied so far (Huttanus 2009). Cheatgrass grows mostly in coarse texted soils whereas it cannot develop in saline or compacted soil (USDA 2014). In addition, it can invade rapidly in troubled areas such as burned areas, overgrazed rangelands, and cultivated fields. The spreading of the plant to shorter distance occurred as a result of transportation of hairy seeds by wind, birds, water, and to greater distance by vehicles carrying seeds in its undercarriage (USDA 2014).

The biodiversity effects of non-native invasive species have been described as “immense, insidious and usually irreversible” (Veitch and Clout, 2002). There is significant evidence proving that invasive species can cause severe economic, environmental and ecological damage (Mack et al., 2000). A lot of time and research has been devoted to dividing the world into regions with distinctive habitats and species. Numerous pathways, mostly anthropogenic, are breaking down these realms and facilitating the ecological and biological invasion of non-native species.