Invasive Species – Why It’s a Serious Global Concern
What’s the concern?
Most invasive species tend to reproduce rapidly in their new environment. They have fewer enemies in the foreign habitat which answers the question of why reproduce fast. The food chain helps balance all animal and plant life. It is the question of who eats who keeps the overpopulation of species into check.
In the new habitat, the species may have no one to eat it and because the native species have other food options, they will let the foreign species multiply freely. But there is a problem though – the foreign species needs to eat to survive, yet its usual food is far away in its original habitat.
What does this mean? It means the foreign species will have to quickly adapt to a new survival tactic. It will start feeding on the native species experimenting on anyone they can find in hope that it will be good food.
In so doing, the foreign species will have unlimited food supplies, but the native species will have limited resources. The foreign species will prosper while the natives diminish. That’s why the foreign species is called invasive because it invades any native species looking for a suitable source of food.
The impact
The food chain becomes highly disrupted and some of the native species are left without food. Those that are slow to adapt begin to die and a whole species can become completely wiped out. Those that manage to adapt look for alternative food sources and that’s how the ecosystem is affected.
Some native species will be forced to migrate to another ecosystem and the cycle replicates itself over and over. They become invasive species in the new habitat. Eventually, the whole world will be disrupted and a huge imbalance shall be created globally. The effect will roll back to human beings and there will be no enough food. It will be a universal crisis.
Currently, the cost of controlling invasive species globally is estimated at $1.4 trillion and the amount is expected to rise if nothing is done. There are many new animal and plant diseases caused by invasive species. Some of the diseases are affecting human beings. Again the cost of disease control is huge.
Is it a serious problem?
?
Absolutely. It’s a very serious problem to the global economy, health, and habitat. If you look at the amount currently spent per annum to control invasive species, the amount can support the national budgets of several nations across the world.
If the remaining species have nothing to eat in the end, they will turn against each other or human beings. Currently, there are many diseases around the world spread by invasive species. High-level technology needs to be developed to help detect the species and eliminate them or return them to their original habitat.