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December 08, 2005

Invasive species

Introduction

Although there are various articles discussing the importance of control and management of invasive species, I wasn’t able to find many articles against this subject. The reasons for providing control for invasive species were very persuasive. However, I did find another article arguing against the control invasive species, equally as convincing.

Benefits of Invasive Species

Plants and other species have invaded the territory of other native species making it very difficult for native species to survive. With an increase in international travel and trade, invasive species have become a greater issue in the world today. When plants or other species invade an area, endangered species and the original state of ecosystems are threatened. Along with threatening species, there are also arguments that billions of dollars each year trying to alleviate the problem of invasive species.

After reading an article entitled Benefits of Classical Biological Control for Managing Invasive Plants, I learned that there are three strategies for the management of plant invasions. They include: prevention, eradication, and control. The effectiveness of prevention has been question by legislation. As a means of prevention, legislation would be required to make sure that foreign plants are unable to entering specific areas. This article suggests that destroying weeds is not regarded as economically feasible. Conventional weed control (which includes mechanical and chemical for example) is very expensive, and takes a lot of energy and is laborious. These types of control would require a repeated application which is not practical for managing widespread plant invasions such delicate habitats.

Mechanical control disturbs the soil and may cause erosion. The usage of chemical herbicides has lead to resistance in evolved weed species in some cases. Chemical herbicides also pose a threat to the health of wildlife and humans. As a result of these negative effects of these methods of controls, the use of biological control has increased.

Biological control is the usage of exotic natural enemies to control the exotic pests. It is considered a safe method of control, and cost effective. Overall, biological control has a success rate of 33 percent. Some of the benefits include being permanent, energy efficient, nonpolluting, and inexpensive relative to other methods. There are some risks involved in biological control but there have not been any significant records of harm to non-targeted species or the environment.

Different Perspective

In contrast to the other article, the article entitled An Essay on Some Topics Concerning Invasive Species speaks from a different perspective on invasive species. Unlike the other article, this article emphasizes that past invasions have occurred without human assistance. These specie invasions rarely caused any measuring effects on the population or ecological change. In fact, the article goes on to say that “They are unintentional, uncontrolled experiments, which can provide insights into attributes of successful colonist, relationships with native species, and impacts on the structure and function of ecological systems.” Just as fossil records show, the earth and the environment has been changed drastically. Species have been invading the earth since the dawn of time. The current invasions just show that the earth is experiencing an episode of changes in the environment and biodiversity caused by our own invasive species. Humans are constantly altering the climate, destroying habitats, connecting isolated lands or waters, exterminating species, and transporting organisms. Therefore, there should be no surprise in the impact and distribution.

My Opinion – Conclusion

Yes, there is a lot of supporting evidence that shows that there should be control for invasive species. However, it is my opinion that invasive species should not be managed and that we should allow nature to take its course. The argument against the invasive species control won my vote. I think that the statement that they make in the article regarding foreign species that states, “similar to the human instinct to dislike or distrust foreigners, the view toward invasive species is the same” (An Essay on Some Topics Concerning Invasive Species). We do not understand these species and because they are foreign does not mean that they are unbeneficial to society. I think that it is important to measure the fact these control methods may be just as detrimental to the environment. Regardless, there are going to be concerns for economic cost. Because there is no evidence showing that there is a 100% sure way to effectively control these species, I feel that we shouldn’t mess with what has already been done. We are possibly even causing more harm to the environment than these new species are through our methods of control. There is usually are reason for everything. Maybe the reason for these new species.....is our answer to discovering new cures and will beneficially useful in many ways, in years to come.

Posted by Jennifer Morris at December 8, 2005 10:04 AM

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