Nature And Invasive Species Essay

An invasive species is a species that comes out of its natural environment, and enters another. These animals are usually very bad for the ecosystem and may cause an unbalance. These animals usually come in with many competitive advantages and can easily dominate any competition. This will give them the ability to eat as much as they would like without being threatened in any way. This could possibly diminish many populations and end an entire ecosystem.

A species that are non-native to where they are located and are likely to cause environmental or economical issues; that is what invasive species are known for. They are transported through human activities such as trading; they may have been from the person’s clothing or from what they were travelling on and they can range from plants to animals. They are a problem as they threaten the lives of the native animals and damage our own economy. They are able to succeed in their environment as they normally had very few predators or competitors for resources, capability of living in different environments, and have high rates of reproduction and growth. One of these kinds of species would be the zebra mussels and the following will explain what

Although the natural ecosystem is a dynamic system that is always changing in response to environmental changes ("Invasive Alien Species in Canada." Government of Canada, Environment Canada. Government of Canada, 19 July 2013. Web. 8 July 2015. . ) . Invasive species affect the ecosystem in a negative way, both in the short term and longer term altering not only the habitat but impacting native species abundance and richness. Invasive species are successful at adapting to new environments so readily because they are generalist. Meaning that they have traits and physiological characteristics that allow them to thrive in variety of conditions, they don’t have any predators in the new environment and they are able to reproduce quickly ("Characteristics of Invasive Species." Web. 8 July 2015. .).

This article addresses the problem of invasive species, which has threatened native species all over world like the Everglades, South Africa, and the northeast region the United States (Evolving an Invasive Species 2014). Likewise they have caused billions of dollars in damage, and serious environmental destruction to the habitats they invade. This article proposed that evolution could assist in determining what introduced species will become harmful invasive species. In the end they discovered species with high phylogenetic diversity are more likely to be invasive than species with low phylogenetic diversity (Evolving an Invasive Species 2014). In all, this discovery is important because when a problem arises in a habitat and a biological organism is being proposed as a solution we can now analyze the organisms evolution to conclude if it will have a beneficial or detrimental affect on the

Additionally, I am interested in how invasive species may be impacting aquatic ecosystems in a similar way. Invasive species have the potential to influence the aquatic community by replacing native species and altering the function of the community, including food web dynamics. As more nonnative species are introduced to aquatic systems and as they expand into new areas, knowing how they alter ecosystem functioning is essential.

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

I am going to be finding the differences in Native and Invasive grasses, along with following information about the species. Native grasses are the dominant plants in the vast rangeland plant communities and are important in the understory of many forested areas. Fibrous roots of grasses hold the soil in place and build up soil fertility. Invasive plants are plants which grow quickly and aggressively, spreading and displacing other plants. Invasive plants are usually introduced by people either accidentally or on purpose, into a region far from their native habitat.

Invasive species are one of the 5 causes of the inevitable 6th extinction. An invasive species is any kind of plant, animal, fungi, or bacteria that is not endemic to a region but, when introduced, can spread quickly and cause destruction to that region. Primarily due human activities, these species are spread by sea, air, and other ways. Sometimes these species are purposely brought to an area as a means of pesticide or other uses, but others can be introduced accidentally. When an new species is introduced to an ecosystem, it can destroy wildlife because organisms may not be evolved to defend against such invaders.

Since an invasive species can be any kind of newly introduced living organism then it would be hard to determine what risk there would be from the introduction and what they would result in since, “Approximately 42% of Threatened or Endangered species are at risk primarily due to invasive species” (Source A). This shows that the introduction between these species have either not been thought out well or nothing has been done to prevent these threats. Since the protection of the native specie and the ability of the non native specie to adapt to the new environment is a crucial factor for a good encounter, the results must first be calculated as accurate as possible in order for the government to base the decision upon because the non native species will endanger the native specie if it becomes more dominant. Therefore, the habitat and food cycle of the native species must also be studied in order to prevent any altercations because they are considered one of the most impacted areas when the defence system of the native species is off. As a result, transferring the non indigenous specie into the habitat of a native specie will only be beneficial if there is balance in their ability to defend themselves from one

Invasive species is a term that is used both for plants and animals. In general, it refers to the introduction of a non-native species into an environment in which because there are no predators tend to dominate the ecosystem and adversely affect the habitat. The overall issue is that the environment becomes out of balance and out of control due to the lack of any natural controls on reproduction or spread. This can be predators or herbivores, and in a world of global commerce, and despite attempts to control, have become problems in many areas (USDA, 2012). One interesting and often quoted example surrounds the plants and animals brought to Mesoamerica during the voyages of Columbus in 1492 often called "The Columbian Exchange." Not all non-native species were dangerous, but because of the lack of controls in certain ecosystems, many plants and animals tended to overpopulate or harbor diseases that indigenous peoples and animals had no natural immunity to (See Figure 1).

    Plants have an important role in nearly every ecosystem. They provide food and shelter for animals, and insects, and absorb CO2 and produce O2 through photosynthesis. However invasive plants are affecting many ecosystems by changing many aspects of soil chemistry and are outcompeting native plants. Not all introduced exotic plants are invasive, an invasive plant is an exotic plant that has the ability to spread quickly and aggressively in a new range that it does not naturally occur in. Invasive species in new habitats are sometimes able to outcompete native plants because the diseases, animals, and insects that previously reduced growth in its native range are no longer close by. Invasive plants affect habitats and decrease biodiversity.

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.

This report will be discussing and talking about endangered species and the impacts they have on ecosystems. Endangered species is a species of animal or plants at risk of extinction because of human activity, changes in climate, ruining of ecosystems, etc. This report will be split into different sections discussing different examples of endangered species and the impacts that they have on different ecosystems.

Introduction. Biodiversity is a variety of life on Earth at all levels from genes to ecosystems and the ecological and evolutionary process that is able to keep biodiversity in balance (Willington, 2005). Biodiversity is important because it satisfy’s everyone including animals, organisms and humans basic needs such as food and water source and as well shelter(Wood, 1997). The overall goal in biodiversity conservation is to create a foundation in developing ways to protect and use biological resources in a way where it does not destroy important habitats in an ecosystem (Nangendo, 2002). In ecology it has been taught that everything from

Problems in Maintaining Biodiversity in the Modern World Biodiversity is the term used to describe the range of habitats and variety of species of animals and plants within them. (2) The maintenance and increase of biodiversity is important to keep an environment stable. If there is a loss of biodiversity then a population of a species will decrease and can only breed with each other. However, as inbreeding takes place genetic defects are caused leading to populations gradually becoming extinct.