What are invasive species Exotic species Naturalized species

What are invasive species? • Exotic species • Naturalized species • Invasive species

Exotic Species • Exotic in the vernacular means strange, unusual, unfamiliar Exotic Dancer Exotic carrot

Exotic Species Definition • Exotic Species • (Alien, non-indigenous, non -native ) • Introduced New Area – Outside historic geographic range • Different Continent • Different part of the same continent – Different ecosystem

Different continent House Sparrow Distribution North & Central America

Different Part of a Continent House Finch Historic Range SW USA Introduced Long Island NY

Different Part of Continent & Different Ecosystem Rainbow Trout Native to tributaries of Pacific Ocean in Asia & North America

Naturalized Species Dandelion • Naturalized species: – alien (Exotic) species – establish viable populations Chicory – common along roadsides Ring-necked Pheasant

Naturalized Species • How many naturalized species occur in the United States? • What percentage of Illinois’ Flowering plants are naturalized? – Total flora = 3, 100 species – 26% (811 species are naturalized)

Why worry about alien species? • There about 30, 000 alien species in the United States and most of them are beneficial

Toby

Why worry about Exotic (Alien) species? • Value of Exotic species: – Produce 98% of USA food supply – 500 billion dollars • Some exotic species become invasive

Invasive Species • Federal Definition – – “Invasive species” means an alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Executive Order 13112 (Feb. 3, 1999) • 0. 1% percent of alien species that arrive become invasive (10 percent rule) – 10 percent establish (10%) – they are naturalized – 10 percent spread (1%) – 10 percent become invasive (0. 1%)

Cost of Invasive species: • Invasive species cause economic damage: – $123 - $137 billion dollar annually in USA • Agricultural pests – about ¼ of agricultural GNP is lost • Costs excludes damage to natural ecosystems

How do invasive species cause damage • Invasive species cause damage by: – Eliminating indigenous species – Disrupting ecosystem processes – Reducing biodiversity – Cause human health or economic problems

Why are invasive species successful? • Release from enemies – Natural competitions, parasites, pathogens, predators • Increased competitive abilities (ICA) • “Vacant niches, ” unutilized, or under utilized resources • Community characteristics – Species richness – Disturbance favors invading species • Native species often have no natural immunity to introduced diseases – – Dutch elm disease, – Chestnut blight

Novel Native

Ave. Number of Pathogen Species Fungi Viruses

Examples of Invasive Species • Kudzu • Zebra mussel • Asian Carp

• Introduced from Japan • Erosion control & Forage • Rapid growth • U. S. Soil Conservation Service (1935 -1942) Kudzu

Kudzu over grows trees in SE United States

Occupies 7 million acres Illinois 16 colonies 440 acres Alaska Hawaii Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Kudzu Distribution in USA

Actual size ¾ inch Zebra Mussel • Native to streams – (Ural & Volga) entering Caspian sea • Great Lakes 1988 – ballast water • June 1991 first confirmed sighting in Illinois River • How did it get into the Illinois River?

Chicago River Des Plaines Calumet Slag Canal

Illinois Sanitary and Ship Canal • 1800’s Chicago sewage discharge – Chicago River – Lake Michigan • Lake Michigan as a drinking water source – 1854 cholera epidemic killed 5. 5% – 1860 -1900 65/100, 000 died annually from typhoid fever • Reversed flow of Chicago River (1900) • Sewage into Des Plaines and Illinois rivers

Calumet Slag Canal After 1900

Zebra mussel Impacts • Reduced or eliminated native mussels • Decimated food supply of fish – Filter out large phytoplankton – Only metabolize green algae – • Bluegreen algae (Cyanobacteria) – Abundance of zooplankton & plankton eating fish decreased • Water is clearer • Economic costs • – Clogged pipes – Attach to boats • Consumed by some ducks & fish – Not controlled

Transported: bilge water and on exterior of boats

How do invasive species get here? • Inadvertently: Foreign transport of goods – Zebra mussel – Asian long-horn beetle – Sea lamprey into Great Lakes – Asian Tiger mosquitoes – Brown tree snake – Dutch elm disease. • Promoted by state or federal agencies (kudzu, multiflora rose, autumn olive)