subject: How Invasive Species Destroy The Environment [print this page] How Invasive Species Destroy The Environment
Intrusive species are non-indigenous or foreign plants, animals, and microbes that have significant or awful effects on the habitats that they occupy. They might be introduced to a selected area intentionally or accidentally. Not all introduced species are intrusive. They only become aggressive when they pose a threat on the new environment and the local species that inhabit it. They have also been known as pests due to their destructive nature.
To distinguish an intrusive species from one that isn't, we need to consider their traits. These species often have high reproduction rates, and they can easily overtake a habitat. They can conform easily to their new environment and can flourish in different soil types and climatic conditions. They may be able to propagate easily thru different agents like wind and water. Their population can swiftly rise letting them outnumber the slower growing local flora and fauna. These characteristics make them an exceedingly huge cause for concern. Their success can also mostly be traced to the undeniable fact that they lack natural predators which can control their population.
Intrusive species have heavy and far reaching effects. The problem is not only confined to the ecology, it may also have commercial and public medical implications. They can affect an environment by promoting the extinction of the local organisms and seriously threaten the unique biodiversity in an area. They accomplish this by invading an already occupied habitat. These foreign species are highly competitive and will consume the resources like daylight, soil, nutriments, and water, leaving local species with little or less at all to us for their survival. The local species population will see a fall, and if unabated will eventually lead to their extinction. The just introduced pests can change the already established natural dynamics and functions of the frail ecosystem that they occupy. This may lead the way on to the resultant change in the ecosystem which is devastating to the local environment.
intrusive species can also have a negative effect on the economy. Damage and control costs can reach up to $2 billion annually. This is usually obvious in the agriculture and forestry fields, where weeds and insects can end up in crop elimination. Some insects can destroy trees and produce which render them unfit to be used. In recent years it has been shown the way the presence of these harmful species have affected the public vis invading their recreation spaces and skyrocketing the specter of exotic sicknesses because of the new links between the human host and the illness. These dangerous effects, whether taken individually or in total, make for pressing disagreements on the necessity to eradicate the pests that are intrusive species.
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