Descriptions like The Worst, Devastative, and Fastest Growing are common currency in the realm of alien invaders. Yesterday was the end of Invasive Species Awareness Week, but the truth of those superlatives justifies the year-round need for awareness. These non-native species travel around with human help until landing where they can make a lush life. Then they live up to their hype.
Once humans bring an alien organism to a new area, it isn’t considered an invasive pest unless it can establish a self-sustaining population and out-compete with for space and resources. Invasive species interfere with farming and disrupt biodiversity. The USDA estimates lost agricultural income and cleanup costs due to invasive pests at $1 billion per year. Outside of ag some disruptions merely are annoying — weeds in your yard like bur clover have spiny fruits that cling to shoelaces. Others are more serious — Scotch broom takes over forests. Aquatic species such as zebra mussels and various bait fish overrun watercourses. Invasive species are a pain in the earth.
It’s our fault. Some we introduced for beauty and then learned they were monsters. Water hyacinth imported as an ornamental chokes rivers and lakes. It can spread from human hand size to 6,500 square feet in one California growing season. Others we accidentally brought in. Tumbleweed seeds arrived with flax seed — one tumbleweed species is said to have the most rapid spread of all introduced plants. Cheatgrass probably came in with other seed and also was intentionally planted. It spread like wildfire and moved throughout the western U.S. with cattle. Now cheatgrass IS wildfire that alters fire regimes and makes them more dangerous. Pets were released when people grew weary of them or when they grew too large to easily keep at home, such as goldfish. Pets became invasive pests.
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns spinning around us.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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Because we are responsible for introducing non-native species that become invasive, we also are responsible for preventing introductions. When you go camping, don’t bring firewood from home. Unless you are truly well beyond the tourism zone, don’t whack down the local deadwood either. Nature needs it to be where it is. Buy local firewood near the camp locale. Over 50 invasive species travel on firewood. Some are diseases that devastate forests (SOD) or eradicate species (e.g., chestnut blight).
Keep ecosystems safe when fishing by using native bait or ensuring non-native bait stays on your hook. Don’t forget that bait packing material may be invasive.
Some invaders move on boats or in ship ballast water.
Land vehicles, including bikes (and shoes!), are another way invasive species get around. Clean your hiking and camping gear before taking it to a new ecosystem. Fire fighting and post-fire clean-up equipment moves invasive plant species into fire-disturbed areas where they can take over and limit regrowth of native plants.
Even though some pests are attractive, they can spread rapidly and deserve dramatic descriptions like “overwhelm entire communities almost overnight.”
When invasive plants take over native vegetation, they harm birds and other wildlife by excluding important habitat and food plants.
Invasive species can hurt you, too.
The best way to control invasive species is to not bring them in. The next best way is to find them before they are well established. Report plant and animal invaders using apps and community science projects. EDDMapS (Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System) has regional and species-specific apps for reporting pests. Squeal on Pig, Texas Invaders, IveGot1 (for Florida) and many others help you share your sightings with resource specialists. Many states offer app, phone call, and website reporting so you don’t need a smartphone.
Using community science nature app iNaturalist can help stop new infestations before a species is known to be invasive, or known from a new area. Observations are snapped as photos and uploaded to the database. You don’t need to know the name or if it is native, non-native, or invasive. Species identifications for your photos are crowd-sourced by members. All iNaturalist data is shared with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, an “international network and research infrastructure funded by the world’s governments and aimed at providing anyone, anywhere, open access to data about all types of life on Earth.” GBIF has 978,009,153 observations of 38,212 data sets (documentation projects) shared with 1,152 institutions around the world.
Our invasive species in the U.S. originated elsewhere: zebra mussels from the Caspian Sea, cheatgrass from Europe, water hyacinth from the Amazon. Some U.S. species are invasive in other countries, such as our bullfrog and eastern grey squirrel. By sharing information, people without special training or technical expertise can stop invasive species in their tracks.
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In the past, I’ve asked what are your invasive species headaches. Today, I’m asking what are you doing to be part of the solution? One small but important step is to take a photo and upload it to a suitable app.