The Importance Of Invasive Species

By taking action, people will eliminate the problem in a shorter, more effective manor. One article states, “Since people can now travel around the world much more easily than they ever could before, it has become easier to introduce invasive species by accident,” (Alien Attack, paragraph 5). This demonstrates how quickly species can spread with the help of humans. People need to eliminate these species faster in order to save ecosystems. Overall, humans need to remove all invasive species before they take over the ecosystems of the world.

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.

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.

Invasive species are very common all over the world. Invasive species are an organism that lives in an ecosystem in which they don’t belong. Invasive species are not only dangerous to people, but also the ecosystem and must be removed.

Invasive species are animals, plants, or fungi that are non-native to the place they are currently in. Some non-native species are not invasive, but if the organisms cause harm to the native species, then they become invasive. Some invasive species on the Pacific Northwest are nutria, bullfrogs, and yellow star thistle. These plants and animals ruin the ground, eat whatever they can fit in their mouth, and can cause diseases. These invasive species don’t help the environment or the organisms living in the Pacific Northwest.

Invasive species are organisms that harm a new environment that they are not native to. Many invasive species like Eurasian milfoil are easily able to reproduce and can do so fast. Due to this, the limited space in a body of water or area of land is quickly taken over by the invasive species so other native plants face the risk of death or even extinction. Overall, these invasive species can do great harm to an ecosystem or an economy, causing problems that are destructive to numerous organisms.

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.

First, I will be informing you about invasive species. Some invasive species do not cause much harm, due to the fact they’re alien to the place. They aren’t adapted to the environment. A way they could start becoming invasive, if they dominate over indigenous creatures already living in this area. Britannica School mentions this in their article on invasive species. http://school.eb.com/levels/high/article/544407#. Invasive species also

Before we continue let’s define the word species. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines species as a group of organisms capable of exchanging genes and reproducing to create young. It’s common knowledge that all fertile humans are capable of producing a child, this means that all humans are the same species. Julian has already defined invasive species for you, but let me define it again. An invasive species is any non-native, living organism migrating or being imported to a land foreign to it/them. Now I think the most important part of that definition is non-native. Humans are native to every continent on earth. For a species to classify as an invasive species it must be non-native. I guess the The National Wildlife Federation might not be reputable enough for you. How about The United States National Agricultural library. A non-native species introduced to a particular ecosystem introduced by means of migration or importation. Don’t believe the National Agricultural library? How about the International Union for Conservation of Nature. An invasive species is a non-native animal, plant or other organism introduced into a place out of their natural range of distribution. Notice any recurring theme? Non-native, non-native, non-native. Humans aren’t non-native to any place on earth; so to consider them an invasive species is illogical, unintelligent, and flat out

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

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).

An invasive species is a foreign organism that man introduces into a specific area. By being introduced, that means that man carries out these changes. Once relocated, the organisms continue to spread naturally (Díez-del-Molino, David, et al., 1). There is no such thing as a good invasive species, as any organism that is introduced to a foreign environment always takes away from a native species. This causes a decrease in the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Examples of invasive species include kudzu and fire ants.. Kudzu is swallowing North American plants. Forests are almost completely covered with kudzu, robbing the native species of an adequate amount of sunlight. Another example would be fire ants. Fire ants are native to South America and were accidentally introduced to other parts of the world, such as North America and Africa, during a soil transfer from South America to North America. In North America, fire ants are an invasive species because they overpopulate due to their advantage of having no natural predators. In Africa, fire ants severely hurt native ant, giraffe, and elephant species. They force the native ants to relocate due to the seizing and consumption of the acacia tree. This is also the reason for the harming of giraffes. Fire ants also tend to be pests to elephants and rhino alike, causing a parasitic relationship between the species. (Hartlieb

Since the beginning of life itself, some species have lived and prospered while other species have gone extinct never to be seen again by mankind. Because of this, some would claim that extinction is natural and not significantly problematic to the world that we live in. Others, however, understand that due to climate change, habitat loss, and poaching, more and more species are becoming endangered which leads to a chain reaction that can be devastating to ecosystems. Species such as the Chinook salmon, gorillas, tropical sharks, and polar bears are all directly affected by climate change, species such as northern spotted owls, Sumatran tigers, and lemurs are greatly harmed due to habitat loss, and species such as the sea turtle, Javan rhinoceros, African elephant, and the Red-Fronted Macaw are all affected by poaching driving them all closer and closer to becoming extinct.

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.

In most cases, it is difficult to relocate an invasive species, so there must be a different method to prevent the species from damaging their new ecosystems. By the time the damage is done, it is often too late to reverse the damage and stop the spread of the invasive species. However, there may be a way to cease the harm caused by invasive species using genetic modification.