What are invasive species?

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What are invasive species?

• Exotic species
• Naturalized species
• Invasive species

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Exotic Species

• Exotic in the vernacular means strange, unusual,
  unfamiliar

Exotic Dancer
Exotic carrot
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Exotic Species Definition

• Exotic Species
• (Alien, non-indigenous, non-native )
• Introduced New Area
• Outside historic geographic range
• Different Continent
• Different part of the same continent
• Different ecosystem

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Different continent
Distribution North Central America
House Sparrow
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Different Part of a Continent
House Finch
Introduced Long Island NY
Historic Range SW USA
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Different Part of Continent Different Ecosystem
Rainbow Trout
Native to tributaries of Pacific Ocean in Asia
North America
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Naturalized Species
Dandelion

• Naturalized species
• alien (Exotic) species
• establish viable populations

Chicory common along roadsides
Ring-necked Pheasant
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Naturalized Species

• How many naturalized species occur in the United
  States?
• What percentage of Illinois Flowering plants are
  naturalized?
• Total flora 3,100 species
• 26 (811 species are naturalized)

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Why worry about alien species?

• There are about 30,000 alien species in the
  United States and most of them are beneficial

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Toby
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Why worry about Exotic (Alien) species?

• Value of Exotic species
• Produce 98 of USA food supply
• 500 billion dollars
• Some exotic species become invasive

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Invasive Species

• Federal Definition
• Invasive species means an alien species whose
  introduction does or is likely to cause economic
  or environmental harm or harm to human health.
  Executive Order 13112 (Feb. 3, 1999)
• 0.1 percent of alien species that arrive become
  invasive (10 percent rule)
• 10 percent establish (10) they are naturalized
• 10 percent spread (1)
• 10 percent become invasive (0.1)

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Cost of Invasive species

• Invasive species cause economic damage
• 123- 137 billion dollar annually in USA
• Agricultural pests about ¼ of agricultural GNP
  is lost
• Costs excludes damage to natural ecosystems

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How do invasive species cause damage

• Invasive species cause damage by
• Eliminating indigenous species
• Disrupting ecosystem processes
• Reducing biodiversity
• Cause human health or economic problems

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Why are invasive species successful?

• Release from enemies
• Natural competitions, parasites, pathogens,
  predators
• Increased competitive abilities (ICA)
• Vacant niches, unutilized, or under utilized
  resources
• Community characteristics
• Species richness
• Disturbance favors invading species
• Native species often have no natural immunity to
  introduced diseases
• Dutch elm disease,
• Chestnut blight

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Novel
Native
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Fungi
Ave. Number of Pathogen Species
Viruses
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Examples of Invasive Species

• Kudzu
• Zebra mussel
• Asian Carp

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Kudzu

• Introduced from Japan
• Erosion control Forage
• Rapid growth
• U.S. Soil Conservation Service (1935-1942)

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Kudzu over grows trees in SE United States
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Occupies 7 million acres
Kudzu Distribution in USA
Illinois 16 colonies 440 acres
Alaska Hawaii Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
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Zebra Mussel
Actual size ¾ inch

• Native to streams
• (Ural Volga) entering Caspian sea
• Great Lakes 1988 ballast water
• June 1991 first confirmed sighting in Illinois
  River
• How did it get into the Illinois River?

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Chicago River
Des Plaines
Calumet Slag Canal
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Illinois Sanitary and Ship Canal

• 1800s Chicago sewage discharge
• Chicago River
• Lake Michigan
• Lake Michigan as a drinking water source
• 1854 cholera epidemic killed 5.5
• 1860-1900 65/100,000 died annually from typhoid
  fever
• Reversed flow of Chicago River (1900)
• Sewage into Des Plaines and Illinois rivers

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Calumet Slag Canal
After 1900
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Zebra mussel Impacts

• Reduced or eliminated native mussels
• Decimated food supply of fish
• Filter out large phytoplankton
• Only metabolize green algae
• Bluegreen algae (Cyanobacteria)
• Abundance of zooplankton plankton eating fish
  decreased
• Water is clearer
• Economic costs
• Clogged pipes
• Attach to boats
• Consumed by some ducks fish
• Not controlled

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Transported bilge water and on exterior of boats
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How do invasive species get here?

• Inadvertently Foreign transport of goods
• Zebra mussel
• Asian long-horn beetle
• Sea lamprey into Great Lakes
• Asian Tiger mosquitoes
• Brown tree snake
• Dutch elm disease.
• Promoted by state or federal agencies (kudzu,
  multiflora rose, autumn olive)