November 18, 2024
"Few forces have transformed our planet as thoroughly as the introduction of invasive species...."
"Burmese pythons have eaten their way through the Everglades; Indo-Pacific lionfish have swum roughshod over Caribbean reefs; silver carp have taken over Midwestern rivers. Most non-native species spill into novel habitats incidentally, as in the case of quagga mussels that likely poured into the Great Lakes from the ballast water of container ships. But ecosystems have also been distorted on purpose. John Muir argued that stocking trout in the fishless lakes of the Sierra Nevada would make angling 'the means of drawing thousands of visitors into the mountains.'... Reginald Mungomery, an Australian entomologist... imported toxic South American cane toads to eat beetles that were devastating the country’s sugar crop. The toads didn’t control the beetles but poisoned native mammals and snakes.... Jon Sperling... theorized that because New York has few native lizards to displace, Italian wall lizards would harmlessly fill an unoccupied niche. He even claimed that predators would benefit from a new food source.... 'My first instinct is, Who are you to play God like that?' Earyn McGee, a herpetologist... said...."
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I dreamed about carp last night. There was an Omaha restaurant that served carp. It was referred to as “Famous Fish” on the menu. The best thing about that dish was the rye bread and pickles.
NOW.. tell us about
rainbow trout
brown trout
brook trout
largemouth bass
was it smoked? fish should be smoked... except bluegills
This is where FAFO came from.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the "experts".
And the official democrat party position is that the "experts" are never, ever, to be questioned.
Ever.
True - brown trout were not native to North America, but were imported and stocked in 1883. Rainbows were native to western America but now exist throughout the country.
My hypothesis would be that the Lizardmonger traveled to Italy, saw the lizards there, and thought "I can bring a little bit of Italy to my hometown!"
Yet another reason that travel is bad for the environment.
What a weird thing to decide to do. "There aren't very many lizards here. Heyyyy.... that gives me an idea!"
Invasive species: See: Kudzu.
We have mesquite in Texas, which traveled up from South America with the cattle drives, its seeds pooped out along the way. Now we have BBQ to smoke, too, but any rancher will tell you what a terrible, expensive nuisance it is.
One has to be careful at the Big Box home stores too, Lowe's and Home depot - sometimes they will have pretty plants on sale that turn out to 'have been declared as 'invasive, as well.
Contrary view: haven't species of flora and fauna ever not invaded other locales?
If we travel from one place to another, it's pretty much inevitable, even if travel speeds the process.
Now do a feature about a prestige scientist who designed a new coronavirus with novel lethality and allowed it to escape.
With a bounty on those burmese pythons the price of snake skin boots has come down a bit. But my questions are more prosaic. Wouldn't it take a pair of invasive species to allow them to reproduce in the wild?
So is it one idiot releasing a pair or a bunch of idiots independently releasing the species in question close enough together that they find each other in the wild?
There are invasive species that can be good. How many of our song birds or flowers are native to the USA? Its hilarious that the same libtards that worry about cane toads are OK with millions of people with different colors, religions and beliefs pouring into their country. Change is always good when it comes to humans. Bad when its insects and animals.
Then there's the introduction of Californians into Colorado and Texas.
BTW, what ever happened to the "Killer Bees". Supposedly they were coming up from Latin America (or was it Africa) to take over and wipe out our native peaceful Bees. Have heard nothing about them for 20 years.
so why not call humans apex invasive species?
Life destroying asteroids, massive solar flares, X-ray beams from rotating quasars, gamma-ray bursts, ice-ages, etc. excluded, I assume...
A Far Side classic: God made snakes
'My first instinct is, Who are you to play God like that?'
New Yorker also most likely thinks we can and should control the weather.
Yes the experts. Next some “expert” will suggest inserting metal into cows so they won’t fart as much. Oh… if forgot someone already has.
There is a disturbing nexus that unites captive-bred Nile monitors and facial tattoos.
It’s always been about the votes and power. Never forget that with respect to democrats. Never.
True. Fountain grass and buffelgrass is spreading all over the Phoenix area and it's making wildfires immensely worse. And Home Depot still sells it.
Aggie writes: "We have mesquite in Texas, which traveled up from South America with the cattle drives."
Texas also has tumbleweed, which came from Russia by hiking on immigrants clothing.
I'm totally opposed to pythons. Even in Burma, I don't think they're such a great thing. I try to keep an open mind on quagga mussels, but there's no upside to pythons.....I have similar feelings about different immigrant groups.
Here in Ohio we actually have a happy story of invasive species. One of our native snake species (technically a subspecies, Nerodia sipiedon insularum), the Lake Erie Watersnake (shorter: Lews), was close to extinction. Not even really for the usual reason - they do just fine in areas humans have moved into, for the most part, except dumb humans kept intentionally killing them even though they're harmless. Their food sources were getting a bit thin, as well.
Then along comes the invasive gobi fish into western Lake Erie, and the LES love 'em! The native species is flourishing by decimating the invasive species in a rare win. If we can get the Lews population back to where it should be, it should help control the gobi population. Or, it could just be step two, where step five or something is the typical disastrous way these stories end, who knows.
Still, it's currently better than what's going on in Florida. Burmese pythons, cane toads, iguanas, even the brown anoles chasing out the green anoles. When I was a kid in Florida the green anoles were everywhere, but the invasive brown anoles have pushed them out (and up, actually). A mess.
The Lazarus lizards of Cincinnati: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2017/08/31/they-came-italy-now-they-outnumber-us-all/591532001/
A 12 year old boy brought back a dozen from northern Italy 7 decades ago. Now 33 generations later they number in the millions. Genetic testing shows that the population is descended from from just 3 of the original 12.
“I am teh Lizard King. I can do anything.”
—— James Douglas Morrison
Done my best to reduce the rainbow population in the Sierra.
Here in SoCal all the Grizzlies were killed before the 20th century or so. But we can't have a Big Bear Lake without bears, so they brought in a bunch of black bears who have thrived. Have a mama and 2 mid sized cubs check out our trash situation once a week or so. Some say they break into cars in my neighborhood but that's just visitors trying to get an insurance scam
Starlings. Venezuelans.
No the are just a different strain of the non-native invasive honey Bees
If there are no lizards, there are necessarily no lizard predators. Anyone see the problem?
Elephant ears, (dasheen, taro) sold to gardners as semiaquatic tropical plants for backyard artificial ponds, now line the creeks here, blocking all native species. Supposedly can be processed via soaking and cooking as a food source, if you're feeling a desire for Polynesian starches in your diet.
John Muir was one of my father's heroes because he married a rich woman so he could spend his time hiking and fishing in the Sierra.
If I somehow became a reclusive billionaire, I would import penguins to the arctic and polar bears to Antarctica. Let's see how it plays-out.
"Few forces have transformed our planet as thoroughly as the introduction of invasive species...."
What a gross overstatement, I thought.
And then I remembered the fire ants.
They came through Texas in the late 80s. They've mostly interbreeded to the extent that their aggressiveness is largely a non-issue now.
Of course, honey bees are not native to the US, either. And now, there are concerns that all these imported honey bees are over-running native species, which are not actively domesticated, because they don't produce honey.
for real ? there were cattle driven from South Americas?
do recent immigrants follow the trails blazed?
One to ponder: Is a 'spaghetti' western, shot in the Spanish desert, featuring tumbleweeds, considered an invasive species in Hollywood?
Look at the upheavals in the North America continent when European explorers crossed its boundaries.
That “bear” story out of Lake Arrowhead is hilarious!
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