Why Do People Introduce NEW Species? Margaux.C
ContentsPage -Why Do People Introduce Species 3 -Introduced For Biological Control 4 -Introduced For Hunting 5 -Introduced As Pets 6 Conclusion 7 Glossary 8 Sources 9
Why Do People Introduce Species? Introduced species are animals brought in from another place. Often, they are bought in to solve problems; this is called biological control. Sometimes animals are introduced so that people have something to hunt. Other times introduced species are unwanted pets that have been released into the wild. Most often introduced species cause a bigger problem than the problem they were brought in to fix.
Introduced For Biological Control
One of the reasons for introducing a species is for biological control; meaning solving a pest problem by introducing a predator for it. Sometime it doesn't work. For example, the Cane Toad was introduced in Australia to control the cane beetle population. Unfortunately, the cane growers did not know that the cane toad eats everything - including the cane they were trying to protect! A more positive example was the Trichogramma Ostriniae, It was introduced to China to help control the European Corn Borer. Another example was the Icerya Purchasi. This pest devastated the California citrus industry. It was introduced to control the the introduced the Rodolia Cardinalis.
Trichogramma Ostriniae Cane Toad European Corn Borer
Icerya Purchasi
Rodolia Cardinalis
Introduced For Hunting
The second reason for introducing a new species was for hunting. Meaning people would bring the animal (often from another country) and release it into the wild. Then people would go hunting after this new species . Often these species would reproduce more than they were hunted. They often had no natural predator in their new environment either. So their population would get out of control. Some of the animals that were introduced for hunting were the Red Fox and the European rabbit. They were introduced in Australia. to If you go to the forest or other wild places in Australia, you will still see red foxes or european rabbits today..
European rabbit In open air Red Fox In forest
Introduced As Pets
Nowadays many people have exotic pets from other countries. Some of the owners release their exotic pets when they become an adult, because they become too large, or dangerous, or the owners just don’t want them anymore. After they are released, the some of the animals establish a small population in the environment. These animals too, often have no natural predator in their new environment. So their population can get out of control, while they disrupt the food web by consuming many primary consumers. An introduced species that started out as a pet is the Feral Cat, brought from Europe to keep company to people.
Feral Cat
Conclusion
Introduced species were introduced mainly because of biological control, hunting and pets. Instead of solving the problems, people make it worse by releasing more animals and putting existing animals in danger of extinction. To not endanger any more animal in the other habitat. In the future the animals may all die if we don’t stop releasing other animals in their habitats.
Glossary Cane Toad - big brown toad that live in tropical America European Corn Borer-Lots species in the family Pyralidae, in common the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) Icerya Purchasi- a small insect, Icerya purchasi, this is a pest of citrus trees in California: it is controlled by an Australian ladybird Feral Cat- A feral cat is considered to be a cat that has been born into the wild, The Feral Cat has not had human interaction for a period of time and is able to survive in the wild. Rodolia Cardinalis- Rodolia cardinalis is a species of ladybird beetle that are sometimes described as endemic to Australia Red Fox - a fox with a reddish and brownish coat that lives in Eurasia and North America European rabbit- a species particular the European rabbit that is often kept as a pet or raised for food Trichogramma Ostriniae- Trichogramma are small and very uniform in structure which causes difficulty in identifying the separate species.As females are all relatively similar, taxonomists rely upon examination of males to tell the different species apart using features of their antennae
Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page www.canetoadsinoz.com/invasion.html
Pictures en.wikipedia.org www.pethelpers.org http://knowledgebase.lookseek.com/Red-FoxVulpes-vulpes.html anatisbioprotection.com entnemdept.ufl.edu bugguide.net www.arthropodafotos.de