What is cause/effect & solution of invasive species?

Question

i really puzzled..

i think the cause can be people coming in form different places with species they didn't even know about.

and effect is it damaged the area it was brought to? i think it impacts the area because it is alien to the area.

am i wrong?

for the solution i think people should be aware of what they are bringing in...

can anyone maybe give me a better way to word this?

or maybe there are other causes, effects, and solutions?

what can be done to prevent this? or give awareness?

P.S. how can i represent this? a graph? i was thinking maybe a circle graph of multiple invasive species and a percent of how much there are...but i think that may be too much.

i'm sorry for going on and on...

but i'm very confused...T_T

THANK YOU SO MUCH in advance :)

Answer 1

Guns, pesticide, herbicide and a bunch of out of work rednecks.

Answer 2

invasive species when introduced can have no natural enemies or diseases that can keep them in check,sometimes even the simplest things like putting out your budgie's old bird seed and dropping can introduce disease to the native birds and kill many off.As for a graph you can so the increase in the introduced species and the reduction of a native species ie sea lamprey and the lake trout demise in the Great Lakes

Answer 3

Invasive species come from several sources. Sometimes, they come in by accident, like rats. Sometimes, they are introduced on purpose, either without thinking (starlings) or after careful study (kudzu). Sometimes they escape from cultivation or captivity (nutria) or are dumped by people who don't think things through (water hyacinth).

The usual solution proposed is to import something from the invader's home range to control its numbers. This may (weevils to eat purple loosestrife) or may not (mongooses to kill rats) work.  Sometimes, when there are just a few individual invaders (snakeheads), people are just told to kill any they find. Sometimes, chemical warfare (lampricides for sea lamprey larvae) is needed. Sometimes, we just have to adjust to the change in the ecosystem.

Answer 4

Effect of invasive species-

Ecological impacts

Biological species invasions alter ecological systems in a multitude of ways. Worldwide an estimated 80% of endangered species could suffer losses due to competition with or predation by invasive species.[28] Pimentel also reports that introduced species, such as corn, wheat, rice, and other food crops, and cattle, poultry, and other livestock, now provide more than 98% of the U.S. food system at a value of approximately $800 billion per year."As highly adaptable and generalized species are introduced to environments already impacted by human activities, some native species may be put at a disadvantage to survive while other species survival is enhanced.

Genetic pollution

Purebred naturally evolved region specific wild species can be threatened with extinction in a big way through the process of genetic pollution i.e. uncontrolled hybridization, introgression and genetic swamping which leads to homogenization or replacement of local genotypes as a result of either a numerical and/or fitness advantage of introduced plant or animal. Nonnative species can bring about a form of extinction of native plants and animals by hybridization and introgression either through purposeful introduction by humans or through habitat modification, bringing previously isolated species into contact. These phenomena can be especially detrimental for rare species coming into contact with more abundant ones where the abundant ones can interbreed with them swamping the entire rarer gene pool creating hybrids thus driving the entire original purebred native stock to complete extinction. Attention has to be focused on the extent of this under appreciated problem that is not always apparent from morphological (outward appearance) observations alone. Some degree of gene flow may be a normal, evolutionarily constructive process, and all constellations of genes and genotypes cannot be preserved however, hybridization with or without introgression may, nevertheless, threaten a rare species' existence.

Economic impacts

Economic costs due to invasive species can be separated into direct costs due to production loss in agriculture and forestry, and management costs of invasive species. Estimated damage and control cost of invasive species in the U.S. alone amount to more than $138 billion annually.In addition to these costs, economic losses can occur due to loss from recreational and tourism revenues.Economic costs of invasions, when calculated as production loss and management costs, are low because they do not usually consider environmental damages. If monetary values could be assigned to the extinction of species, loss in biodiversity, and loss of ecosystem services, costs from impacts of invasive species would drastically increase.The following examples from different sectors of the economy demonstrate the impact of biological invasions.

Agriculture

Agricultural weeds cause an overall reduction in yield. Most weed species are accidental introductions with crop seeds and imported plant material. Many introduced weeds in pastures compete with native forage plants, are toxic (e.g., leafy spurge, Euphorbia esula) to cattle or non palatable due to thorns and spines (e.g., yellow star thistle, Centaurea solstitialis). Forage loss due to invasive weeds on pastures amounts to nearly $1 billion in the U.S. alone.A decline in pollinator services and loss of fruit production has been observed due to the infection of honey bees (Apis mellifera another invasive species to the Americas) by the invasive varroa mite. Introduced rodents (rats, Rattus rattus and R. norvegicus) have become serious pests on farms destroying stored grains.

Forestry

The unintentional introduction of forest pest species and plant pathogens can change forest ecology and negatively impact timber industry. The Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) was first introduced into the U.S. in 1996 and is expected to infect and damage millions of acres of hardwood trees. Thirty million dollars have already been spent in attempts to eradicate this pest and protect millions of trees in the affected regions.

Tourism and recreation

Invasive species can have impacts on recreational activities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, wildlife viewing, and water-based recreation. They negatively affect a wide array of environmental attributes that are important to support recreation, including but not limited to water quality and quantity, plant and animal diversity, and species abundance.Eiswerth goes on to say that "very little research has been performed to estimate the corresponding economic losses at spatial scales such as regions, states, and watersheds." Eurasian Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) in parts of the US, fill lakes with plants making fishing and boating difficult.

Health impacts

An increasing threat of exotic diseases exists due to increased transportation and encroachment of humans into previously remote ecosystems that can lead to new associations between a disease and a human host (e.g., AIDS virus in human host.) Introduced birds (e.g. pigeons), rodents and insects (e.g. mosquitoes, fleas, lice and tsetse fly) can serve as vectors and reservoirs of human diseases. Throughout recorded history epidemics of human diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, typhus, and bubonic plague have been associated with these vectors.A recent example of an introduced disease is the spread of the West Nile virus across North America resulting in human deaths and in the deaths of many birds, mammals, and reptiles.Waterborne disease agents, such as Cholera bacteria (Vibrio cholerae), and causative agents of harmful algal blooms are often transported via ballast water.The full range of impacts of invasive species and their control goes beyond immediate effects and can have long term public health implications. For instance, pesticides applied to treat a particular pest species could pollute soil and surface water.

Threat to global biodiversity

Biotic invasion is one of the five top drivers for global biodiversity loss and is increasing due to tourism and globalization. It poses a particular risk to inadequately regulated fresh water systems, though quarantines and ballast water rules have improved the situation in other respects.

The control of invasive species can involve their eradication or their containment within a specified area. In both cases, the goal is to prevent further spread to un-invaded systems. This type of management can be implemented at several scales, from a homeowner working in his or her own backyard to large government agencies taking a national approach. The decision to eradicate a species versus contain it can depend on several factors, including, but not limited to, the type of habitat, characteristics of the organism, the spatial dimensions of the spread, time available to dedicate to control, and cost. These factors also play a role in determining which specific control technique(s) to utilize.

Mechanical control

Mechanical control involves the removal of invasive species by hand or with machines. Often, these methods are effective in controlling small populations and can be target specific, minimizing harm to non-invasive plants and animals.[46] Mechanical control is labor intensive and requires a large time investment, as treatments must often be applied several times to ensure success.Commonly implemented control methods for plants include hand pulling, mowing, girdling, and burning. For invasive animal control, techniques such as hunting, trapping, and the construction of physical barriers like fences or nets, are used.

Chemical control

Chemical compounds can be used to prevent the spread of invasive species. This method of control can be very effective in both large and small areas, but is often criticized due to the possible contamination of land and water resources and a lack of target specificity that can result in the killing of desirable plant and animal species. Also, the target species may develop a resistance to the chemicals over time, rendering this method ineffective. Herbicides are chemicals used to control invasive plants and, depending on the target species, can be applied directly to a plant, in the soil at a plant’s base, or even to the soil before seeds develop. For animals, other pesticides are used to restrict growth and reproduction or to kill invasive insect pests.Another form of chemical control is the use of attractant pheromones to lure mate-seeking insects into traps.

Biological control

Biological control involves the release of a specific species to restrict the spread of the invasive species. With the proper research, this method of control can be both environmentally safe and successful. However, it can be ineffective if the released species do not survive or if their impact on the invasive species is not as great as predicted.Also, the species chosen for release is not always a native organism, increasing the possibility of even more invasive species. Predatory insects, called weed feeders, can be released to control invasive plants. Similarly, plants can be infected by disease-causing organisms, such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses, killing them or reducing their reproductive output.Invasive animals can be controlled with the release of predatory or parasitic organisms (especially in the case of invasive insects) or with the transmission of diseases in a similar manner as with plants.Additionally, sterile insect or fish males of the invasive species can be released so that after mating, a female will lay “dead” eggs or eggs that will develop into sterile adults.There are instances in the past when biological controls specifically introduced to an area to control a nonnative species have had a negative effect on the ecosystem. A good example of this is when the mongoose was used as a biological predator in Haw

Answer 5

You are right that people do bring in a lot of invasive species.  Things like plants animals even birds.  Sometimes they eat the food source of the "local" animals and this kills off the local animals.  Some of the plants that are introduced in their actual area have creatures that will eat them or disease will kill them or whatever that will help to control them.  But when they are in a new area they may have no "enemies" in that area and so they take over and kill off the natural plants and the animals in the area often can not eat the new plants or digest them so they take over.    

Sometime of the species are brought in by natural ways like floods or lack of a good food source in their area.