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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invasive species | 7/9 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:18:41.562467+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Cargo inspection and quarantine === The original motivation was to protect against agricultural pests while still allowing the export of agricultural products. In 1994 the first set of global standards were agreed to, including the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement). These are overseen by the World Trade Organization. The International Maritime Organization oversees the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (the Ballast Water Management Convention). Although primarily targeted at other, more general environmental concerns, the Convention on Biological Diversity does specify some steps that its members should take to control invasive species. The CBD is the most significant international agreement on the environmental consequences of invasive species; most such measures are voluntary and unspecific.
=== Slowing spread === Firefighters are becoming responsible for decontamination of their own equipment, public water equipment, and private water equipment, due to the risk of aquatic invasive species transfer. In the United States this is especially a concern for wildland firefighters because quagga (Dreissena bugensis) and zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) mussel invasion and wildfires co-occur in the American West.
=== Reestablishing species ===
Island restoration deals with the eradication of invasive species on islands. A 2019 study suggests that if eradications of invasive animals were conducted on just 169 islands, the survival prospects of 9.4% of the Earth's most highly threatened terrestrial insular vertebrates would be improved. Invasive vertebrate eradication on islands aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 15 and associated targets. Rodents were carried to South Georgia, an island in the southern Atlantic Ocean with no permanent inhabitants, in the 18th century by sealing and whaling ships. They soon wrought havoc on the island's bird population, eating eggs and attacking chicks. In 2018, the South Georgia Island was declared free of invasive rodents after a multi-year extermination effort. Bird populations have rebounded, including the South Georgia pipit (Anthus antarcticus) and South Georgia pintail (Anas georgica georgica), both endemic to the island.
=== Taxon substitution ===
Non-native species can be introduced to fill an ecological engineering role that previously was performed by a native species now extinct. The procedure is known as taxon substitution. On many islands, tortoise extinction has resulted in dysfunctional ecosystems with respect to seed dispersal and herbivory. On the offshore islets of Mauritius, tortoises now extinct had served as the keystone herbivores. Introduction of the non-native Aldabra giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) on two islets in 2000 and 2007 has begun to restore ecological equilibrium. The introduced tortoises are dispersing seeds of several native plants and are selectively grazing invasive plant species. Grazing and browsing are expected to replace ongoing intensive manual weeding, and the introduced tortoises are already breeding.
=== By using them as food ===
The practice of eating invasive species to reduce their populations has been explored. In 2005, Chef Bun Lai of Miya's Sushi in New Haven, Connecticut, created the first menu dedicated to invasive species. At that time, half the items on the menu were conceptual because those invasive species were not yet commercially available. By 2013, Miya's offered invasive aquatic species such as Chesapeake blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus), Florida lionfish (Pterois sp.), Kentucky silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), Georgia cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris), and invasive plants such as Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). Joe Roman, a Harvard and University of Vermont conservation biologist and recipient of the Rachel Carson Environmental award, runs a website named "Eat The Invaders". In the 21st century, organizations including Reef Environmental Educational Foundation and the Institute for Applied Ecology have published cookbooks and recipes using invasive species as ingredients. Invasive plant species have been explored as a sustainable source of beneficial phytochemicals and edible protein. Proponents of eating invasive organisms argue that humans have the ability to eat away any species that it has an appetite for, pointing to the many animals which humans have been able to hunt to extinction—such as the Caribbean monk seal (Neomonachus tropicalis) and the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius). They further point to Jamaica's success in significantly decreasing the population of lionfish by encouraging the consumption of the fish. Skeptics point out that once a foreign species has entrenched itself in a new place—such as the Indo-Pacific lionfish that has now virtually taken over the waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico—eradication is almost impossible. Critics argue that encouraging consumption might have the unintended effect of spreading harmful species even more widely.
=== Pesticides and herbicides === Pesticides are commonly used to control invasives. Herbicides used against invasive plants include fungal herbicides. Although the effective population size of an introduced population is bottlenecked, some genetic variation has been known to provide invasive plants with resistance against these fungal bioherbicides. Invasive populations of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) exist with resistance to Ustilago bullata used as a biocontrol, and a similar problem has been reported in Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) subject to Bipolaris microstegii and B. drechsleri. This is not solely a character of invasive plant genetics but is normal for wild plants such as the weed wild flax (Linum marginale) and its fungal pathogen flax rust (Melampsora lini). Crops have another disadvantage over any uncontrolled plant – wild native or invasive – namely their greater uptake of nutrients, as they are deliberately bred to increase nutrient intake to enable increased product output.