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Invasive Species
" Jan 24 2014

Do you know what a pest is? Rethink your idea of pests and include the two words Invasive species. Invasive Species can be introduced to minimize the impacts of dangerous animals but can overpopulate due to new and easy prey. These tiny little mice, or birds or any other kind of non native species can ruin whole ecosystems. 42% of endangered and threatened animals are at risk due to invasive species. Amazingly, the main cause of extinction in the last hundred years is invasive species! Even though invasive species can minimize the effects of native pests, they overpopulate easily. One of the only ways to get rid of these pests is to introduce more pests from the invasive species native home. Even though most invasive species pose threats to native animals, some have positive impacts on the environment. Surprisingly, some of the pests can have positive impacts, such as some invasive plants; they can be used as a food source by native animals. Invasive plants can rapidly outgrow native plants depriving the native species from light causing it to wither and die. Interestingly, invasive species can change by mating with native ones. Most native animals struggle to stay alive with the presence of a non native invader. However, some native plants have their own way of staying alive, they wrap around the invasive plant. Other animals are simply bigger and stronger than the invasive species and can easily survive alongside the invasive species. Once you take the time to think about it, arent we the biggest invasive species of all? Arent we the cause of the ozone hole? Dont we cause global warming? We can just take planes to new places and invade on the native wild life. Unlike the animals you just read about, we have no enemies, we have no predators that you can introduce to get rid of us. The least we can do to give back is to help with another huge problem that we are causing - Invasive Species.

TY Baxker

Monday, 27 January, 2014 1:15:26 PM Hong Kong Standard Time