Like most nonnative, invasive species, feral swine (Sus scrofa) in the United States has an increasingly negative impact on native plants. If left unchecked, feral swine will become responsible for the permanent destruction of many plant communities as well as endangering native plant populations.
Nonnative species can also be called alien, exotic, or nonindigenous. Their presence is due to humans dispersing them to other locations beside their native habitat, or by humans creating environmental conditions that allow their growth. When nonnative species begin to take over a new habitat and displace native species, they are then termed an invasive species. Nonnative invasive species are one of the biggest threats to ecosystems in North America (Cox, 1999) because they are able to have an impact on many levels, including ecosystems, communities, and populations (Cushman, Tierney, & Hinds, 2004).
Feral swine are considered to be in the top 100 problematic invasive species. Sus scrofa are native to Eurasia and North Africa, but are currently found on all continents except Antarctica (Timmons et al, 2012). Swine arrived in North America in 1493. Escaped domestic swine were the first to begin the feral swine population, and when settlers first arrived, there continued to be an increase in escaped pigs. Hunters would intentionally release swine to build up sport hunting. Many of these released swine were domesticated European wild boar mixes (Kaller & Kelso, 2006).
Swine are omnivores that have a varied diet consisting of invertebrates, fungi, acorns, roots and bulbs found in the soil (Cushman, Tierney, & Hinds, 2004). The majority of the swine’s diet consists of plant forage, with native plants being preferred. They do eat other an...
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Timmons, J. B., Alldredge, B., Rogers, W. E., & Cathey, J. C. (2012). Feral hogs negatively affect native plant communities. Informally published manuscript, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M , College Station, TX, Retrieved from http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/files/2010/04/feral-hogs-native-plants.pdf
U.S. Department of the interior, National Park Service. (2013). Endangered Species. Retrieved from website: http://www.nature.nps.gov/biology/endangeredspecies/index.cfm
Weeks, P., & Packard, J. (2009). Feral hogs: Invasive species or nature. Human Organization, 68(3), 280-292. Retrieved from http://wk4ky4tk9h.scholar.serialssolutions.com.library.esc.edu/?sid=google&auinit=P&aulast=Weeks&atitle=Feral Hogs: Invasive Species or Nature's Bounty?&title=Human organization&volume=68&issue=3&date=2009&spage=280&issn=0018-7259
Invasive species as a whole have become a nuisance to many habitats and ecosystems around the world. What defines an invasive species is the following. It must be a species that is foreign to the habitat it resides in, have no natural predators which allow it to reproduce in such a rapid manner, and out compete native animals of food and shelter (Rosenthal 2011). These characteristics are what create such high populations of these invasive species in various habitats around the globe.
The piece I chose to do my literary analysis on was the article, The Truth About Invasive Species, written by Alan Burdick. The article states that invasive species are all around us, but the area with the most prominent amount is the suburbs of Miami. It goes into detail about how abundant invasive species are in this area. Most people who would see a strange animal in their lawn or area would be bemused, however for the people of Southern Florida, this is a recurring scene. Burdick states that “virtually everyone in the South Florida, including Hardwick, has a neighbor with a backyard menagerie of lucrative critters on hold for resale”. Burdick describes both how an invasive species is introduced into an ecosystem, and the impact the have on other species upon their arrival.
Once the gray wolf population had declined in the National Park, many ecological impacts were observed. Without a sustainable wolf population in the park, the elk population began to take over and increase in size. Due to this increase in elk, many of the deciduous woody species began to become overgrazed. With the e...
Global change is taking place every day; therefore, it is important to understand how human activities and behavior alters the biodiversity and functions of ecosystems. Alien species is a stimulator of major changes in ecosystems (Vila et al. 2011). An invasive species, is a non-native plant, animal, or fungus that moves to a new ecosystem in a foreign environment. Invasive ecology explores how the invasive species affect the economic, environmental, and human health on the new environment. For example, invasive ecology studies how an invasive species tends to crowd out and sometimes replace a native species (Richardson and Pysek 2008).
Feral hogs, Sus scrofa, are present in all 64 parishes in Louisiana with an estimated population of 500,000. They are quickly becoming the most serious problem facing land managers and hunters in Louisiana due to their extremely prolific nature, excessive rooting that drastically impacts crops, food plots, hayfields, and tree farms, and their predatory activity towards livestock and wildlife.
In the last decade, from the Rockies to New England and the Deep South, rural and suburban areas have been beset by white-tailed deer gnawing shrubbery and crops, spreading disease and causing hundreds of thousands of auto wrecks. But the deer problem has proved even more profound, biologists say. Fast-multiplying herds are altering the ecology of forests, stripping them of native vegetation and eliminating niches for other wildlife. ' 'I don 't want to paint deer as Eastern devils, ' ' said Dr. McShea, a wildlife biologist associated with the National Zoo in Washington, ' 'but this is indicative of what happens when an ecosystem is out of whack. ' ' The damage is worse than anyone expected, he and other scientists say. Higher deer densities have affected growth, survival, and reproduction of many plant species which have aesthetic, economic or ecological value. In some cases, many species of trees have also been shown to have reduced growth as a result of high deer density (Environmental Benefits of Hunting, 1). Deer prefer certain plant species over others and frequently feed on economically valuable tree species. For example, they prefer oak and sugar maple seedlings, as well as acorns, over less palatable species like American Beech and striped maple. Thus, less marketable species are more likely to survive to maturity,
I used to think wild pigs were just that, normal pigs that went out into the world alone, but I was wrong they are actually a lot different! Did you know the Binomial Nomenclature or scientific name of the wild pig is Sus Scrofa and that they are considered mammals and are thus part of the Mammalia family. They’re hair color differentiates between brownish-red to black, and they are 3.6-4.9 feet long. Though they aren’t as tall as a bear they are 3 feet in height at adulthood and can weigh as much as 400 pounds. They usually live 1-2 years but can live up to 9-10 years of age. They are also thinner than they’re domestic cousins and have much rougher hair that is known to sometimes stick up they’re spin in a threatening manner to make themselves look bigger. The long spear-like tusks protruding from they’re mouths are actually teeth that are on the top of their mouths, these tusks curve like a hook to protrude from the mouth at an actual angle. The females are almost always smaller than their male counterparts and as the males and females age this difference becomes more substantial and more visible. When they are born the pigs have a yellowish strip of color running down their sides that goes away after 4 weeks. Depending on their environment they also can have spots of different colors that allow the pigs to blend into their environments. Pigs teeth aren’t always pre...
Invasive species only started to show up in the United States when the Europeans started to arrive. Beforehand, very limited contact was made in this particular region of the world, so very few invasive species came into North America. When the Europeans arrived in 1492, after Columbus discovered North America, they brought their own culture and essential food and animals with them. At first, it was just the basics of maize, wheat, pumpkins, and squash, but later on it also included cows, chickens, and horses . As more Europeans flocked into the country, non-native species began to appear in the area. Often, as non-native species appeared it led to unintended consequences of destroying gra...
Estimates are that at the turn of the twentieth century over two million wild horses roamed free in the western United States. However, having no protection from their primary predator, man, by the 1970’s there numbers had dwindled to less than thirty thousand. In 1971, after a massive public uproar, Congress by a unanimous vote enacted the “Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act” (Act) that characterizes wild horses and burros as national treasures and provides for their protection.
The black-footed ferret (Mustela Nigripes) is known as the most endangered mammal in North America and it belongs to the weasel family. Researchers paid little attention to this species until it was discovered as threatened in 1967. According to an article issued in 1985, black-footed ferrets were perceived to be extinct until Lucille Hogg’s dog discovered a dead carcass of the species in 1981 (Gustkey, 1985). The discovery made by taxidermists reintroduced the species to the world as endangered (1985). The main reason for the decline in the population was due to the decline in prairie dogs. Prairie dogs make up most of the black-footed ferret’s diet, which can easily influence the predator-prey relationship and cause the population to fluctuate.
It is common now for ecosystems to become over run with a species of animal that will overtake the area they inhabit. “Wildlife populations throughout time have fluctuated wildly for natural reasons and some unnatural reasons” (Emmons 1). These fluctuations can be dangerous and must be dealt with before damage is done. For instance, deer populations have been on the rise in the last many years and if it weren’t for widespread deer hunting they would over run many forests and possibly destroy much of the land inhabited by other creatures. Bears have also flourished in the last many years and many die due to a lack of food, in the words of David Von Drehle “Slow starvation is no happier a way for a bear to die than by a hunter’s arrow or bullet”. There are invasive species present in the United States that many people, state, and local governments want controlled or eradicated. The Feral Hog is the best example of that, these animals tear through many different areas in a short amount of time. These animals uproot trees, eat any and all food they can find, and dig up burrows of other animals the live in t...
Invasive species, (also known as invasive alien species or simply alien species) are defined as any organism (plant, animal, pathogen, or other living thing) that is alien (non-native) to an ecosystem, which can cause adverse economical, ecological, or health effects to native species and/or humans. The roots of these problems all stem from the massive negative ecological impact these organisms are having on the environment (CBD, 2009). For all animal extinctions where the cause is known since the 1600’s, invasive alien species have been a contributing factor 40% of the time (CBD, 2006); the second most contributing factor to extinctions after loss of habitat (GC, 2013). By eliminating native species through competition for resources, predation, and transmittal of disease, invasive species continue to reduce biodiversity in almost all ecosystems around the world (CBD, 2009). In the future, this problem may worsen, and if no action is taken, could lead to a cascading ecological problem so large that whole communities or even ecosystems could collapse.
One of the big causes of extinction or the endangerment of species is foreign species entering a habitat. This species that are not native to the land can disrupt the food web in that community. These species take control of the food web and endanger some of the other species. The native species become endangered and over the course of many years they either adapt to their new way or life, the foreign predator leaves or is killed off due to the different environment, or the species is killed off and becomes extinct. Organizations like the “World Wild Li...
The introduction of a new or exotic species, into a new ecosystem has been long known to threaten the integrity and biodiversity of that ecosystem worldwide. The European wild rabbit is an excellent model to demonstrate the range of complex effects that an introduced mammalian species may exert on ecosystems into which it has been introduced.
The introduction of an exotic species into an environment will furthermore cause the endangerment of a species. Native species are those plants and animals that are part of one specific geographic area, and have been a part of that particular biological landscape for a long period of time (Ehrlich p37). The species is well adapted to the environment and accustomed to the presence of other native species within the habitat. When an exotic species is introduced usually by way of human activities or accidentally, they cause a very serious disruption in the delicate ecological balances and may produce a plethora of unintended yet harmful consequences. The introduced species may severely agitate the delicate food chain by preying on species, and growing to outrages numbers. This happens because none of the native species will recognize the exotic as a threat or even a source of food.