Invasive Species

My AP Biology ThoughtsUnit 8 Episode #31

Welcome to My AP Biology Thoughts podcast, my name is Saarim and I am your host for episode 31 called Invasive Species. Today we will be discussing invasive species. Before I start, I’d like to give credit to several different sources including the National Wildlife Federation, National Geographic, Eric Guise’s AP Biology videos, as well as UC Riverside Center For Invasive Species Research, New York Invasive Species Information, Wikipedia, National Geographic, the Global Invasive Species Database, and last but not least, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Segment 1: Introduction to Invasive SpeciesInvasive species description

• Non-native, spread rapidly, economic/environmental harm
• Adapts to new area and reproduce quickly - cause some type of harm
• Spread by human activities - pest control, traveling from one place to another, people releasing pets into the wild (goldfish and burmese python), animals and pets could escape from humans
• Impacts and reasons for impacts
• Invasive species = no natural predators or control - no limiting factors
• They can outcompete native species for same resources
• They could prey on many native organisms
• Affects smaller ecosystems and food chains in negative ways
• Biodiversity would be lessened
• They could change the abundance of certain significant species important to other organisms
• Native species would be defenseless new invader with no limitations
• Invasive species could carry or cause disease, prevent native species from reproducing
• They can change native food web
• Abiotic conditions impacted - invasive plants affect water quality, tree cover, and can create fuel for wildfires

Segment 2: Examples of Invasive SpeciesBrown Tree Snake

• Spread through travel
• WW2 - snake transported from South Pacific to Guam - stowaway in ship cargo or in landing gear of aircraft
• Could have been used to suppress the rat populations in Guam which were very high before 1950s
• Snakes - no natural predators+abundant prey = exponential growth