Native And Invasive Species Comparison Essay

Iowa became a state in 1846 and by 1860 almost the entire state was settled and farmed by Euro-Americans. The settling led to the devastation of prairie in Iowa. The beautiful lush grasses, forbes, and sedges were being cultivated and planted with crops along with severe overgrazing and much more. Prairie is a habitat type that gets a lot of focus in Iowa today. It gets so much focus because it is such a huge part of Iowa’s ecological history. “Before the advent of white man, prairie covered approximately 84 percent of the area of Iowa”. (Aikman, 1959) “Tallgrass prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America (Sampson and Knoppf, 1996), with less less than one percent of its original extent remaining.” (Rowe, Fargione, Holland,

Discovered in the 1990s, in small patches in Patapsco Valley State Park Wavyleaf basketgrass is a fast spreading, asian grass that thrives in the forested areas of Maryland. Gabriel Popkin says “Now the plant has spread to other parks

What makes something invasive? Is it when the object takes over? When it reproduces to a great extent? When it takes over all of your space? These are all aspects of an "invasive" thing. Invaders cause other tiny problems along the path of their destruction that can be difficult to control. In Mark Sanchez's, "The Invaders," and Aaron Hartman's, "Kudzu: From Pretty Vine to Invasive Pest", two plants, the milfoil and kudzu, are taking over. These invasive weeds have more than just being invasive in common with each other, they also share a hand full of dissimilarities. These plants have gobs of similarities and differences between each other.

Research Strategy: In order to back my idea I will find several informed and scholarly articles, backing my theory. This includes looking at the effects invasive species have on the native ones. I will look at both sides to accurately come to the final conclusion. The most accurate information will come from books published on invasive species. These books can be found at local libraries and online libraries.

There were four main invasive plants Himalayan Blackberry, Morning Glory, Reed Canary grass, and English Ivy. Carolyn then started to tell us the difference in the shapes

Currently, the sagebrush ecosystem is rapidly declining across the Western United States, with over 350 associated plant and animal species at risk of being lost and imperiled. The main reason for the sagebrush decline is the steady encroachment of cheatgrass and pinyon-juniper. The invasion of these plants are fueling larger and more frequent fires that are out competing sagebrush as well as the associated grass species that are native components of the ecosystem, taking over much land that sagebrush once occupied. Cheatgrass was introduced to North America through contaminated grain seed, straw packing material, and soil used as ballast in ships sailing from Eurasia in the late 1890’s and is now the main culprit behind sagebrush decline.

The Puget Sound Prairies, are an important example of a rare and unique ecosystem, that are quickly disappearing. Their disappearance is mainly due to human development and invasive plants, specifically nonnative perennial grasses, which pose another serious threat to these prairies (Stanley, Kaye, & Dunwitti, 2008).

Smooth brome is widely planted as a drought-resistant forage and cover crop. A serious problem facing managers of many prairie remnants of the northern Great Plains and true prairie is the invasion and persistence of exotic cool-season grasses, particularly smooth brome (Biederman et al., 2014; Otfinowski, Kenkel, & Catling, 2007). Smooth brome is a deeply rooting, rhizomatous perennial that often excludes other species, thus contributing to the reduction of native species diversity and altering biomass dynamics in natural areas (Biederman et al.,

The book entitled, “Ecology of Weeds and Invasive Plants”, opens with a quote from Dr. A. S. Crafts saying, “in the beginning there were no weeds.”. This quote causes one to stop and think about it. What Dr. Crafts meant by this quote was that even though plants have existed for many years, weeds did not exist before humans began to travel about. With all the traveling that humans do the problem of invasive plants has grown tremendously (Radosevich, 1). The impact that invasive species have on the environment is often overlooked or thought of as unimportant. The issue is vast, yet little is done about it. The problem with invasive species is extremely important and will impact the world for generations to come. This paper will explain what invasive species are, show the negative impacts invasive species have on the environment, and what we can do about this issue.

A native plant is a plant that evolves in a particular area for a long period of time. They also adapted to the weather change in that specific area, As well as worked alongside other plants to provide habitat for wildlife. A non native plant is a plant that originates from a particular place and was put some place else by accident. The dangers of having a non native plant in a place in which it did not originate is harmful because our wildlife eat the native plants and if a non native plant evolves in that area and the animals eat it there is no telling what harmful side effects that specific plant will have on that animal.

Native species are those species that normally live and thrive in a particular community. Invasive/Non invasive species are a native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either accidental or deliberate. Not all invasive species are necessarily invasive. Non native invasive species are a non-native species that adversely affects habitats and biodiversity. The difference between native grasses and invasive is that native grasses are originated from a certain location and are not moved like non native species. An example of a native grass would be Fescue grass, it originated from Europe according to Google. An example of an invasive grass is cordgrass , it is frequently found in Coastal

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

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.

Hypotheses/Questions: The primary question of this study is where can revegetation plots best be located relative to grazing rotations? Of interest is: How is the rate of planting success (multiyear survival) affected by placement in recently grazed systems versus ungrazed (rested) systems? How is primary and secondary growth affected by placement of plantings in grazed versus ungrazed systems/can grazing be utilized to reduce competition to woody riparian species from riparian grasses?