The Impacts of Invaders: Invasive Species in the Atlantic World

ENDNOTES

As the Atlantic world expanded and different people groups connected with one another, they shared knowledge, resources, and culture, but their mingling had unforeseen impacts that would forever change the world. While the appearance of ships from Europe and elsewhere may have changed the lives of the people living around the Atlantic basin, life was also transformed for the plants and animals in those same areas. The introduction of invasive species—accidentally or purposefully—led to the extinction of hundreds of species and continues to threaten thousands more.1 Today, over thirty percent of threatened bird species and over eighty percent of threatened mammals are endangered due to invasive species.2 Over millennia, invasive species had been able to make their way across continents, by floating on debris across oceans or migrating across the land.3 This process could take years to occur and meant that the introduction of invasive species in new environments happened slowly. With the arrival of ships that had crossed the Atlantic, this process was sped up as large vessels traversed oceans quickly and carried life that made its home elsewhere.

Small rodents and insects found their way aboard ships and disembarked on different shores, making their way into new habitats, disrupting native flora and fauna. Travelers also brought their pets with them as companions, but these pets often became top predators in their new environments. In the Canary Islands, the giant Tenerife rat fell victim to cats brought to the island by the Spanish.4 Unused to predators, many species did not know how to protect themselves and quickly declined in numbers. New species also brought competition for food, water, and shelter. If a species was not able to compete for food and habitat, then they were at risk of disappearing, which almost happened to several species of giant lizards off the coast of West Africa.5 The survival of many threatened species in the Atlantic is due in large part to the removal of invasive species from habitats so that native species do not have to compete or be hunted into extinction.

The largest and perhaps most influential invasive species in the Atlantic world happens to be us: human beings. Human activity in the Atlantic world has directly impacted the safety and security of native life, leading to several extinctions. All over the Atlantic world, human life existed before colonists began spreading out from Europe. What was invasive was the cultural and economic practices that followed exchanges with different people groups. Hunting for sport was usually only practiced by wealthy elites and led to the direct extinction of several species such as the Falkland Islands Wolf6 and the South African Bluebuck.7 Additionally, the clearcutting of forests to grow crops or build settlements destroyed the natural habitats of species and has not stopped in over four centuries. This practice continues to threaten forested species and leads to the extinction of approximately 0.3 percent of all plant species per year.8 If deforestation continues, then the complete extinction of subspecies such as the Cebidae primates in the Amazon9 will lead to irreversible effects on the environment. Invasive activity in the Atlantic world has resulted in the extinction of many species and will result in the extinction of many more, which suggests that perhaps we should consider how our actions can change to allow us to coexist in nature without the destruction of life.

Katrina Nicolle

Humanities major, English concentration, History minor