What is the biggest problem involved with invasive species?

Question

What is the biggest problem involved with invasive species?

Answer 1

That they are invasive.

You answered your own question.

Answer 2

Generally, they occupy similar niches to native species and may outcompete the natives, driving them to extinction.

Answer 3

They crowd out native species.  Since they are exotic's they do not have any natural controls to keep them from spreading uncontrolled.  After the native species are gone, the other native species that depended on them are at risk too, and so on and so on.

Answer 4

may times invasive species have no enemies or disease's to keep them in check also they can be more aggressive and push out native species from their natural habitat invasive species such as the Zebra mussel ,Round Gobi{fish} golden ash borer,and the most famous dutch elm fungus came her after WW1 and has decimated the elm trees of America and Canada there are hundreds of other examples pigeons and starlings are not native to North America

Answer 5

Thre biggest problem is the failure to anticipate the consequences of the success of the species. Eric Severeid, a famous news analyst, once said in reference to protests about a nuclear power plant, "The main cause of problems seems to be the solutions to the previous ones".. In modern MBA speak, this is "The law of unintended consequences"

Answer 6

I'll point out a couple problems with ONE invasive species...

The Tamarisk - also known as "salt cedar".

This plant was introduced into the United States to help control soil erosion.  Unfortunately, it is a major weed/shrub/bush/tree that chokes out native plants.  Tamarisk have a "self defense" mechanism that renders the soil around it toxic to other plants...that way it eliminates any competition.  Tamarisk is also an HUGE water hog.  The plant sends down a taproot for 100+ feet to obtain water - and it is estimated that Tamarisk have caused groundwater tables in many areas to actually drop.  I've also read that a single Tamarisk tree will consume upward of 100+ gallons of water per day - meaning that billions of gallons of water per year are being sucked up by this invasive species.  The Tamarisk is also advancing upstream along the Colorado River about 15 or 20 miles per year...

There are several different experiments being done to find a viable way to eradicate the Tamarisk - but they're all expensive, labor intensive, and not a 100% sure thing...  The only one I've heard about that seems like it may produce a long-term benefit is an insect.  A certain beetle or weevil has been imported, and apparently, the ONLY plant this little bug will consume is Tamarisk.

Hopefully this will work, because in the desert southwest where Tamarisk is along any and every waterway, the savings in water alone could be huge.

Answer 7

I believe the biggest problem is people owning potentially invasive plants or animals and letting them loose without understanding the consequences.  The African Clawed frog got let loose in California where they now breed.  Look below to see a map of their habitat.

This is how you kill a salt cedar.  Cut off all the branches and haul them away.  Scrape up the debris on the ground and remove it.  Dig away the dirt from the base of the tree at least a foot deep and a foot out from the trunk.  Get sturdy black sheet plastic and put at least three layers over the entire trunk.  Wrap with rope at the base.

The tree will send up new shoots which you will have to cut off.  Remove the plastic carefully, cut, and replace until the tree gives up.

We got a house cheap after one ate their plumbing.  It took almost a year to die.

Answer 8

The other two answers are right but a basic answer is they alter ecosystems.

Answer 9

It entirely depends on each invasive species, as to what kind of damage it causes.

Take the lowly dandelion for example.  They were brought over as a food source by French pioneers a few hundred years ago.  So now, despite be a simply excelent source of nutrition, they are just a big source of annoyance to people who want the perfect lawn, right?  Well not so fast.

Dandelions are actually an excelent food source for grasshoppers.  So good in fact the dandelion can help grasshoppers reach plague proportions.  That of course is very, very bad for farmers trying to raise crops.

I on the other hand raise meat goats, and meat rabbits.  Dandelions are a wounderful food source, chocked full of vitamins for both of these critters.  So I do not mind dandelions.  The wheat farmer, and the golf course owner though hate them.  

Of course animals can be invasive too.  Take horses.  I'm an avid horse lover.  Yet I understand how horses (and other equines) serriously overpopulate in some areas and eat all the available food, leaving nothing for native animals and causing serrious errosion problems.  With few to no predators to hunt the horses (wolves, cougars, bears) and humans no longer hunting them for food, they need to be controlled via other means.  

The "control" of invasive species is usually very expensive.  Invasive species by their very nature usually cannot be entirely wiped out, only kept somewhat under control.

Invasive species usually out compete native species.  Some however are tollerated, even encouraged.  The Ring Neck Pheasant most everyone knows, and bird hunters delight in hunting is NOT native to the North America.  They came from China.  They out compete native birds all the time.  They are possibly helping to drive our native Sage Grouse to extinction.  Yet because Ring Neck Pheasants are such good game hunting birds, and because their is money to be made from them, they are not only tollerated, but bred and released to increase hunting revinues.

So as you can see, a lot depends on the invasive species.  

Usually though, invasive species are very expensive to try and control, as well of course being invasive, and out competing native species.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

P.S.  Another problem came to mind with species that many people do not concider invasive, yet they can have radical changes on the wildlife in an area...domestic cats.  In some areas, like Australia, they can have a profound impact on wildlife.  I like cats.  I own two.  One of them wouldn't hunt anything, even if she tripped over it.  The other one kills about 6 rodents & birds every single morning.  I'm sure what he does at night is even "worse."  Since we live on a farm, rodent control is a factor.  I cannot have the wild coyote and foxes on my farm...he takes their place.  

Yet quiet obviously domestic cats are not native to the North America and other places like Australia.  They can have some pretty serrious impacts in some cases.  They are an invasive species...yet are not concidered so by most people.