Transcript Invasive Species Grant Mulligan

Invasive Species
Grant Mulligan
Outline
• Invasive Birds
• Invasive
Plants
• Climate
Change
House Sparrows
• Ubiquitous in urban areas
• Brought over from Europe
• Kills native bird species actively or
passively
• Compete for resources
• Graphic Pictures Follow
"Without question the most deplorable event in the history of American
ornithology was the introduction of the English Sparrow."
-W.L. Dawson, The Birds of Ohio, 1903
Invasive Species
• “Are Invasive Species a Major Cause of
Extinctions?”
• have negative effects on the functional
relationships between birds, their prey,
and prey habitat
• Lehmann lovegrass
• Buffelgrass
• Out-compete native species
Invasive Plants
• Invasive exotic plants are a major threat to
many species of wild birds.
• Long-term and often irreversible habitat
degradation for birds and other animals.
• Overall bird abundance was 32% greater
on native-grass sites than on exotic-grass
sites (Flanders).
Climate Change
• Becoming a heated policy
issue
• Public concern growing
• Causing rapid change in
habitats
• Extraordinary rate of
species extinction
• Potential effects
devastating to
ecosystems worldwide.
Climate Change
• There are examples of invasive species
altering the evolutionary pathway of native
species by competitive exclusion, niche
displacement, hybridization, introgression,
predation, and ultimately extinction
(Mooney).
• Process accelerated by global change
brought on by warming
Conclusions
• Must address invasive species problem.
• Must actively manage lands to protect
them from invasive species.
• Greater effort to exterminate invasive
species
• More education & research needed.
• Limit Global Warming
Works Cited
• Mooney, H. A., and E. E. Cleland. "The Evolutionary
Impact of Invasive Species." Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98
(2001): 5446-5451.
• Gurevitch, Jessica, and Dianna K. Padilla. "Are Invasive
Species a Major Cause of Extinctions?" Trends in
Ecology 19 (2004): 470-474.
• Flanders, Aron A., et al. " Effects of Invasive exotic
grasses on south Texas rangeland breeding birds." The
Auk 123 (2006): 171-182.
•
www.sialis.org/battles.htm (Pictures)