Everything you need to know about invasive species
One of my favorite classes, while I was studying biology in college, was ecology. Ecology is a very cool subject because it allows you to understand more about how our ecosystems work and how important it is to keep them balanced.
My teacher was excellent, and he had this idea where he divided us into groups and we picked a topic and present that topic to the class. My topic was invasive species. That’s what we are going to be talking about today.
What are invasive species?
Invasive species, like the word invasive might suggest, are beings such as plants and animals that are not native to a particular area and can cause great economical and environmental harm to that area.
But are all non-native species invasive? NO. To be an invasive species, they have to be able to reproduce quickly, adapt quickly to the new area, and cause harm to the native plants and animals of the area.
Ok, but how does an invasive species invade the new environment?
They are mostly introduced in the new environment by, you guessed it, humans! Most time this happens by mistake, like how it happened with the Zebra Mussels.
Zebra Mussels are native to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in Central Asia, and they were accidentally introduced in the great lakes of North America by ships that traveled between the two areas and had them stuck to the boats. The Mussels were first discovered there in 1988.
But they can also be introduced as pest control or pets. A great example of species that were introduced as pest control and ended up becoming invasive is the cat. In 1949, five cats were introduced in South Africa as pest control for mice. By 1977, they had reproduced so much that they became invasive and where threatening the local bird population.
Besides that, people often buy or adopt a certain animal that isn’t native to a region and when they no longer have the means to take care of them, they release them into the wild. Or that animal can also escape captivity.
A very good example of that is the Burmese Python. They are native to southeast Asia and they are often acquired as pets in the USA. Many of these ‘’pets’’ are released by their owners into the Everglades in Florida. Since they have very few to no predators, they are reproducing very fast and endangering the population distribution in the area and is disrupting the natural food chain of the Everglades.
Why is this a bad thing?
According to scientists, invasive species have caused dozens of species to go extinct! Since they destroy, consume, infect, and compete with native species, they’ve led to either the destruction or conversion of certain habits. They are making those habitats harmful and uninviting to the native species.
This is a huge deal because it has a big impact on the already existing problem of species extinction and it’s mostly — almost entirely — caused by us, humans!
It also has a negative impact on SDG 15 — Life On Land — that aims to reduce the degradation of natural habitats and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.
What can I do to help?
Eradicating these invasive species can be tricky and, sometimes, do more damage than good if not well monitored. So, our best way to help is prevention!
Here’s a small list of things you can do to help prevent this problem:
- Make sure the plants you are buying and bringing into your home are not invasive. You can use EDDMapS to check if a certain plant or animal is invasive for your city.
- When using a boat, make sure you clean it thoroughly before moving it to another body of water.
- Clean your boots before you go hiking in a different area.
- Don’t take home any animals, plants, shells, firewood, or food from different ecosystems.
- Never release pets into the wild.
- Volunteer at your local park, refuge, or other wildlife areas to help remove invasive species. Most parks also have native species restoration programs.
In the end, these are just small things you can do that have a huge positive impact in preventing this problem from growing!
The truth is, everything we do has some sort of impact in the world around us and it is up to us to have a positive impact on our actions!
