Alien Species

There have been many species of plants or animals that have been introduced into our ecosystem that have lead to problems and wreaked a havoc on our ecosystem. There are many that could be listed and here are three examples of species that were introduced into our ecosystem.

1. purple loosestrife, introduced from Europe in the early 1800s as a garden ornamental plant, it has invaded wetlands throughout eastern North America, edging out many native species. Wetlands are the most biologically diverse part of our ecosystem. When the species was introduced it would choke out the habitat in the wet lands and in fact effecting many other species along the way. There are actually three provinces that ban the sale of purple loosestrife and the rest of Canada still allows it to be sold.

2. A huge threat to the St Laurence river is Zebra Muscles. They have already infested some of the great lakes. The most striking characteristics of the zebra mussel are its tendency to congregate by the tens, even hundreds, of thousands per square metre. Tagged with a reputation as a nuisance species, the zebra mussel is a cause for concern because the problems it creates are serious. It blocks conduits (water intakes, pipelines, tunnels), corrodes ship hulls, covers wrecks, causes loss of habitat, and changes the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Unfortunately, solutions to these problems are few and not very effective. Since the river is not the best environment for zebra muscles, it can be assumed that the zebra mussel will not thrive in the St. Lawrence to the extent that it has in the Great Lakes.

3. There has been a species that has been introduced into a secluded ecosystem that is very near us in our oak wood savanna. Pine trees were introduce some years ago and they began to reek havoc with the ecosystem. There are now plans to cut these trees down., When one of our classes took a field trip to the Pinnery we cut some of theses pine trees down to control the population.

In the end people say why make the effort. Well there are many reasons to make the effort. If we do not it will eventually destroy our ecosystem or cause disease and many other things that can weaken an ecosystem.