Invasive species

Hi and welcome to my page! The purpose of this blog is to look at invasive species and the effects they have on communities and ecosystems. An invasive species is defined as an introduced organism (plant, animal, fungus or bacterium) that exceeds its normal distribution which threatens valued environmental resources. This can include diseases, fungi, parasites weeds, feral animals and insects. While some invasive species can be beneficial to the environment the more harmful varieties can devastate agriculture, cost the world economy millions of dollars and spread painful and even lethal diseases (Simberloff, 2013).

A recent example of an invasive species are  the Burmese Pythons that have overtaken Florida's Everglades. The pythons originated in south east Asia and have been imported to Florida, USA and bred as pets. Pythons show indeterminate growth and when people no longer know how to care for the ever growing snake they have simply been set free in the wild and have multiplied by the thousand.  The area has become so over populated by this alien species that it is now throwing out the ecological balance of the relationships between existing organisms and their environment. For millions of years the Alligator has been the top predator, but the rapidly multiplying pythons are taking over and are making many species at risk of being wiped out. Since the pythons have become more common in the everglades over the last 20 years there has been a dramatic decrease in many species, more notably deer, racoons and opoosums. There hasn't been a land predator in the Everglades big enough to swallow a deer or a full-grown raccoon in a million years, as a result the animals haven't learned to be wary of the giant snakes (Reed, p.254) Without control of this species the affects are going to be irreversible for much of the native wildlife.

For more on this subject refer to the reference list below:

References:
Reed, RN, Willson, JD, Rodda, GH, Dorcas, ME 2012 Ecological correlates of invasion impact for Burmese Pythons in Florida, Integative Ecology, Vol.7 issue 3. p.254.

http://www.env.gov.yk.ca/animals-habitat/invasivespecies.php

http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/biodiversity/invasive-species