Invasive Species Essay

Invasive species is a majority factor to the loss of biodiversity across the United States. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) concluded in a study of invasive species that they are responsible for the decline or extinction of roughly 42% of endangered or threatened species in the United States. Invasive species is an organism that is not native to a location or ecosystem and offer the potential to cause harm to not only the environment, but also to human health and the local economy. The introduction of these invasive species into an environment has had significant impacts on the conditions in which native species survive and their ability to adapt to counter the new threat. Invasive species compete with native species for food and resources

Invasive plants are usually brought in an analogous way, but instead are brought by pollen that is stuck on insects. In the United States, invasive species are slowly becoming a growing pain to overcome by the federal government. Already the almost 4,000 non-native species in the United States have caused upwards of one hundred billion dollars of damages to property and homes according to a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture. They go on to say, "The impacts of invasive species on our natural ecosystems and economy cost billions of dollars each year. Many of our commercial, agricultural, and recreational activities depend on healthy native ecosystems," (USDA 7). Not only do invasive species cause damage to all these areas, but they also take nutrients from these healthy ecosystems and take over native species. The United States government could easily spend these billions of dollars for more pressing issues and is simply a waste to see the money having to fight a species of animal that does not belong in the United States. Instead, the United States government gives a small amount of money per year to the USDA to cover charges to hunt down invasive species. However, this money is nowhere what

If an invasive species that is a predator appears in an environment, then the native prey over time will adapt to try to live against the predator. Same thing for some species of plants, since some animal’s stomachs are not that strong, they might not be able to consume invasive plants and therefore will have to evolve to eat that specific type of plant. This is the concept of evolution to change and is best talked about during the phase of urbanization. Eric Bender, a graduate from Boston College with a masters in science communication says, "Cities can act as test beds to address longstanding questions in evolution. Do different populations of the same species evolve in similar ways when faced with the same environmental pressures? And do different species in the same locations evolve similar characteristics?" (Bender 5). Cities do provide the best testing area as they face rapid development and changes. The answer to his questions is that same populations of animals evolve according to the pressures that they face. The example of the Peppered moth where human activity caused the mostly white moths to die to the minority Black moths that would go on to survive in the city. The counter can be said with what was happening in the countryside, the white moths remained the dominant moth there while the black one became a minority. Both cases of city and countryside have the common theme of