Invasive Animal Species and Extinct Animal Species

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Invasive Animal Speciesand Extinct Animal Species

• And the Effects on the Environment

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What Are Invasive Species?

• An invasive species is a species occurring, as a
  result of human activities, beyond its accepted
  normal distribution and which threatens valued
  environmental, agricultural or personal resources
  by the damage it causes.

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Facts

• The U.S. spends 120 billion annually on the
  control and impacts of more than 800 invasive
  species infestations. This does not account for
  the values of species extinctions and losses in
  biodiversity, ecosystems, services and
  aesthetics.
• Nine out of 21 of the most endangered ecosystems
  in the U.S. are significantly impacted by exotic
  invasions.
• 80 percent of the nations fish communities are
  considered degraded because of decline or loss of
  native species and introduction of exotics

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Argentine Ants
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Defining Characteristics

• Light Brown or Silver
• Workers are 1/8 of an inch long
• Queens are ¼ - ½ inch long ( Two to Four times
  larger than workers)
• Uneven Thorax
• Some males have wings

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Habitat

• Originally From Brazil- Supposedly brought on a
  coffee boat.
• Have inhabited most of Southern California since
  1907
• Prefer areas near the coast
• Like living in trees or shrubs
• Nest under mulch and dirt
• Sometimes nest in the plumbing structures of
  buildings.

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What Do The Eat?

• Omnivorous
• Feed on Fresh Fruit, Sweets, and budding plants
• Can feed on other ants and animals

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Colonies

• A colony can have as little as 10 workers and one
  queen
• In an introduced habitat they can have up to 30
  queens creating one super colony.
• High reproduction rate
• Can have millions of ants per colony

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Harm On The Environment

• Overtaking native ant species
• Attacking Bird Nests
• Threatening the Native Horned Lizard
• Destroying Orchards and Gardens
• Displaces Native Species

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Bullfrogs
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Defining Characteristics

• Can Grow to a length of up to 8 inches
• Can weight up to 1.5 pounds
• Females are larger than males
• Their coloring includes brown, green, blotching,
  and a yellow or white underside.

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Habitat

• They were accidentally introduced during trout
  stocking
• Native to the Central and Eastern United States,
  Non-native to California
• Lives in ponds, lakes, rivers.
• Prefers warm shallow water.

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Effects on the Environment

• Dangerous to the environment because of its
  impact on food supply
• They are predators.
• It will eat anything that fits in its mouth
• Including mice, worms, bugs, snakes, and small
  animals.

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WILD BOARS
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What is a wild boar

• The wild boar, the ancestor to our domestic pigs,
  is a large pig species covered in dark bristly
  hairs. It is a widespread species, common in
  broadleaf forests across much of Europe, Asia and
  North Africa.
• . A wild boar is a type of wild pig, but not pink
  with a curly tail. Wild boars are very large,
  sometimes 5 feet long and weigh up to 300 pounds.
  They have stiff black fur and straight tails.
  They also have tusks that curl out of their
  mouth, there not very long but can still really
  hurt you.

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Characteristics of a wild boar

• Primary classification pigs and hogs
• Location Europe, northern Africa, Asia
  introduced to the United States.
• Habitat Grassland and scrub to forest.
• Diet Shrubs, weeds, bird eggs, snakes,
  grasshoppers, mice, roots, and manure.
• Size Up to 5ft in length and 198 lbs in weight.
• Description Brown, red-brown, dark gray or black
  coat large head long, spine straight tail with
  long tassels.
• Cool facts primarily nocturnal animals, they
  will eat almost everything edible, from tubers to
  insects and small mammals.

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Habitat

• Wild boars live in groups called sounders.
  Sounders typically contain around 20 animals but
  groups of 50 have been seen.
• Boars like to live in forests near streams or
  ponds, boars dont have sweat glands so the need
  areas that allow them to wallow in the mud.

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Effects on the environment

• They are called pests for many reasons, when they
  dig up the ground for roots they kill many native
  plants.
• When they wallow near the edge of a pond they
  tear up the water plants, this causes the soil to
  wash away ( in other words erosion) because the
  plant roots cant hold onto the dirt anymore.
• Wild boars get into gardens and eat all the
  watermelons and peanuts.
• They sometimes eat eggs and babies of small
  native animals, including endangered species,
  like baby sea turtles. They may also eat the
  acorns that native animals, like deer and turkey,
  need for food. Because of this, boars are often
  hunted to keep them from damaging the environment
  around them.

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Grizzly Bears
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Defining Characteristics

• Grizzly Bears are native to the California
  environment.
• They can reach an average weight from 400-1500
  pounds and stand roughly 8ft high on its hind
  legs.
• The male is on average 1.8 times as heavy as the
  female.
• The grizzly has a large hump over the shoulders
  which is a muscle mass used to power the
  forelimbs in digging.
• In spite of their size, they can reach speeds of
  up to 35mph

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Habitat

• Grizzly Bears at one time were a prevalent animal
  in the western North America, extending from
  Canada to Northern California and as far east as
  Wyoming.
• Beginning with the gold rush in the early 1840s,
  people began to establish settlements within the
  indigenous ranges of the grizzly.

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Extinction from California

• People began to kill the bears for their fur,
  meat, and because they were seen as a dangerous
  threat to humans.
• Additional contact between bears and settlers
  increased with western expansion, which led to a
  rapid decline in grizzly bear populations.
• By the 1870, Grizzlys were all but extinct from
  the state of California, were they were once a
  plentiful species.

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Effects on the Environment

• Grizzlys are an animal rather high on the food
  chain. With the extinction from the California
  community, the animal which the grizzly once fed
  upon, such as moose, deer, sheep, caribou, black
  bear, salmon, trout, and bass, become unregulated
  and thus the food and vegetation which these
  animals feed upon spiral out of control.

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References

• www.columbia.edu/.../Linepithema_humile.html
• http//www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/TOOLS/ANTKEY/argid.html
  
• http//www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/entomology/444-285/444-
  285.html
• http//www.twingroves.district96.k12.il.us/Wetland
  s/Frogs/BullfrogFood.html
• http//www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/economic/main.s
  html