Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 1K views

    18 Invasive Species

    Uploaded by

    api-240112671

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    18 Invasive Species

    Uploaded by

    api-240112671
    1K views2 pages

    Original Title

    18 invasive species

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    1K views2 pages

    18 Invasive Species

    Uploaded by

    api-240112671

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Invasive Species

    Sometimes, plants that grow well in one area cause problems in another. This might seem hard to understand. A plant is a plant, right? But moving plants and animals to new ecosystems can cause unexpected problems.

    The spread of garlic mustard


    For example, garlic mustard is a plant that originally came from Europe and Asia. People brought it to the United States to grow in their gardens. But garlic mustard escaped from gardens. The plant can produce thousands of seeds in a year. And there are no animals in the area that naturally eat garlic mustard. So garlic mustard has spreadand spread, and spread. The spread of garlic mustard affects the forest. Garlic mustard grows quickly and does well in areas with low light. The plant quickly replaces the native wildflowers of an area. When this happens, animals that depend on those wildflowers have trouble finding food. What was once a diverse forest becomes covered with only garlic mustard plants.

    What is an invasive species?


    Garlic mustard is an example of an invasive species. Invasive species are plants or animals that dont naturally live in an ecosystem. Without predators, invasive species can take over an area. They can cause many problems. In North America, many invasive species came from Europe and Asia. Some species, like garlic mustard, were brought here on purpose. Many of these plants and animals were useful. Garlic mustard can be used to make salads and sauces. Crown vetch, a plant with purple flowers, was brought here to cover bare hillsides and prevent erosion. But other species were introduced accidentally. For example, the woolly adelgid is a bug that feeds on sap from hemlock trees. This invasive species kills the hemlock trees. The adelgid probably came here along with some Japanese hemlock trees that were planted in gardens. Another invasive species, the Canada thistle, has been in this country for hundreds of years. It probably came with early settlers in their bedding and seeds.

    Invasive or not?

    Not every plant or animal that is introduced to a new ecosystem becomes invasive. Some blend right in, while others are even useful. The European honeybee is important for pollinating crops and wildflowers all over the United States. Weeping willow trees, which originally come from Asia, grow well in wet areas. Some plants that behave perfectly well in their natural ecosystems cause problems in new places. For example, goldenrod is a favorite wildflower in North America. People enjoy seeing its yellow blooms in the autumn. Its not surprising that some gardeners decided to plant goldenrod in England. But nothing in England eats the goldenrod. There, it is becoming an invasive plant. The gray squirrel is another American invader. The gray squirrel lives all over the United States. In the 1900s, people intentionally brought it to England as an interesting novelty. But the gray squirrel grows to be twice the size of the native English red squirrel. This means that the gray squirrel can outcompete the red squirrel. The numbers of English red squirrels are decreasing because of the American gray squirrel. All over the world, species are being taken to new ecosystemssometime by accident, sometimes on purpose. Some species, like the honeybee, have turned out to be useful. But others can harm ecosystems. One thing is certainits impossible to predict what will happen when species are taken to new places.

    You might also like