Introduction of Foreign Species into the Australian Ecosystem
B1. Investigate the impact of human activities on the diversity of living things.
Describe the impact that this activity has on the environment and species diversity. The early European settlers of Australia during the Imperialism introduced feral animals into Australia for many different reasons without knowing the harmful effects it brings to the ecosystem of their new home. For example, rabbits were introduced in 1859 by English explorers to Australia for hunting at home and feral cats were introduced 1788 into goldmines to control mice, then later also used to keep down the number of rabbits and native rats. Their lack of knowledge has impacted the Australian environment and species diversity greatly. It caused reduced population and increased pressure from uncontrolled predator and competition for food, water and shelter for native animal and plant species and degradation of native habitats, soil and waterways. Feral animals typically have few natural predators or fatal diseases and some have high reproductive rates. Their populations have not naturally diminished, so they can multiply rapidly if conditions are favourable. As living things, they need to eat for a living, and they eat native species that doesn’t have any resistance towards them. When this happens, the native food chain is disturbed. Introduced species hunt and kill native birds, mammals, reptiles and insects. Furthermore, they compete with