Details on Invasive Species Threaten Biodiversity

An invasive species is a type of organism that is not native to a specific place. Invasive species have the potential to affect the new area’s economy and environment.

Non-native species are not all invasive. Most of the food crops grown in the United States, for example, are not native to the region, including popular wheat, tomato, and rice varieties. To be invasive, a species must be able to quickly adapt to its new environment. It needs to multiply swiftly. It must cause damage to property, the economy, or the region’s native plants and animals.

Many invasive species are unintentionally introduced into new areas. Zebra mussels are native to Central Asia’s Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Zebra mussels landed in North America’s Great Lakes by chance, attached to big ships travelling between the two continents. The Great Lakes currently have so many zebra mussels that they are threatening native species.

Spreading of Invasive Species

Human activities, often unknowingly, are the primary means by which invasive species spread. People and the commodities we use travel around the world swiftly, and they frequently bring with them unwelcome species. Aquatic organisms can be carried in the bilge water of ships, and on the propellers of smaller boats. Insects can get inside wooden pallets, cargo crates, and other items that are shipped throughout the world. Some attractive plants can escape and become invasive in the wild. Invasive species are also unintentionally or purposely discharged pets. Burmese pythons, for example, are becoming a major issue in the Everglades.

Furthermore, climate change will allow some invasive plant species, such as garlic mustard, kudzu, and purple loosestrife, to spread into new areas due to higher average temperatures and changes in rain and snow patterns. Insect pest infestations will be worsened when pests like the mountain pine beetle take advantage of drought-stricken vegetation.

Impact of Invasive Species

Invasive alien species have a severe effect on native biota, causing native species to decline or even extinction, as well as negatively influencing ecosystems. Animals, plants, fungi, and microbes that have infiltrated and established themselves in the environment outside of their original habitat are known as invasive alien species. They reproduce quickly, outcompete native species for food, water, and space, and are a major contributor to global biodiversity loss. Species are frequently introduced either intentionally, as in fish farming, pet trade, horticulture, and biocontrol, or unintentionally, as in land and water transportation, travel, and scientific research.

The global economy has allowed the transfer of live species over great distances and beyond natural boundaries, thanks to increasing transportation of products and travel. Despite the fact that only a small fraction of transferred organisms become invasive, they have a huge impact on the health of plants, animals, and even humans, posing a threat to life and jeopardising food security and ecosystem health. Their negative economic impact costs countries billions of dollars in agricultural output losses and trillions of dollars in environmental expenses each year. Eradication is the most desirable method once established, although it can be highly costly. The greatest solution is still prevention.

Climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution can all exacerbate the detrimental consequences of invasive alien species on biodiversity. Islands and other isolated ecosystems are particularly vulnerable. The loss of biodiversity will have serious implications for human health. This involves a decrease in food variety, which can lead to starvation, famine, and disease, particularly in poor countries. It will have a significant impact on our economy and culture as well.

Invasive alien species are induced by human activities related with worldwide mobility, however national and local policies must be implemented. It can be aided by international cooperation. Prevention is the first step, but if we all work together, we can undo the damage that has already been done.

Effects of Invasive Species on Biodiversity

Even minor increases in the spread of invasive plant and animal species, according to leading international experts, will inflict substantial damage to ecosystems and biodiversity around the world.

According to the 38 experts who published their findings in the journal Global Change Biology, this has significant implications for human livelihoods.

They discovered that global goods transportation, climatic change, and economic growth, such as land usage and energy consumption, are the most important drivers of invasive species in various ecological and social situations.

Tourism, recreation, demographic shifts, migration, and pollution are among the others.

Non-native species are spreading at an alarming rate as a result of such human actions. “We know from a variety of recent research that invasive species populations and impacts are fast increasing,” says first author Franz Essl of Austria’s University of Vienna.

If these ill-fated invaders succeed in their new environment, they can upset ecosystems’ delicate balance and stability, frequently with disastrous effects.

Rabbits, for example, threaten fragile species all across the world by damaging flora, competing for food with native animals, eroding soil, and assisting predators in thriving.

Each year, freshwater zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) cost more than a billion dollars in North America. They attach to hard surfaces like boat motors, water treatment pipes, and turtle shells, and their pointy shells can disrupt tourism as well as native mollusk and fish populations.

In Australia, scientists say alien species pose a greater threat to biodiversity than anything else, including climate change, an issue that Essl and colleagues fear will spread to other parts of the world in the future.

However, while their current effects are well understood, predicting their future spread and consequences is difficult, prompting Essl and colleague Bernd Lenzner to conduct an expert assessment using standardised surveys, bringing together scientists from Europe, North and South America, the Pacific Islands, Australia, Africa, and Asia.

Conclusion

Among the most serious hazards to native wildlife are invasive species. Invasive species jeopardise 42 percent of threatened and endangered species.

Invasive species also pose a threat to human health and the economy. Invasive organisms cause billions of dollars in damage to our natural ecosystems and economy every year. Healthy natural ecosystems are necessary for many of our commercial, agricultural, and recreational activities.