The Pros And Cons Of An Invasive Species

Everyone’s gotten a mosquito bite before, some people may have contracted a virus from them. A lot of people have seen a dandelion, maybe even picked it, or removed it from their lawn. Many people have seen snakes and stink bug and have been told to stay away from them. Annoying mosquitoes, reoccurring dandelions, terrifying snakes, and smelly stink bugs are all considered an invasive species. They are costing the United States millions of dollars, harm humans, crops, and attempt to obliterate their surroundings. Underneath it all, they’re a greater threat than they seem.

What is an invasive species? In the United States it is defined as “an alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to

First off, some have harmed the environment. They accomplish this by “disrupting the natural community and ecological process, harming the native species” (Erickson and Lusk 1). There are many ways a community or ecological process can be disrupted, one of the most damaging ways is through extinction of native animals. For example, goats were introduced to the island of San Clemente in California, the goats ended up cause eight different plant species to go extinct (Erickson and Lusk 1). Now all the organism that relied on those plants will have to adapt or go extinct themselves. Another way they are damaging is that invasive species could be a potential fire hazard. A fire occurred at the Hanford Reach National Monument and cheatgrass was partially to blame for the fire (Erickson and Lusk 1). Cheatgrass is a winter annual plant, which means the seeds sprout when the temperature is cold. The plant can outperform spring plants for water and other nutrients, which allows them to spread rapidly and stay there. By the time summer rolls around, the plant becomes dry and flammable. Not to mention, there is an aquatic fern, called Giant Salvinia, that spreads extremely fast. What it does is clog waterways, preventing any type of light to get in disrupting the aquatic community (Erickson and Lusk 1). Without sunlight, organisms cannot produce oxygen, therefore the plants suffocate. Any organisms that feed off those plants will also die from the lack of oxygen and may starve to