As humans create new technology and machines that allow boundaries between countries to be crossed within hours, and sometimes even minutes. It is important to remember that we may not be the only creatures traveling on our well engineered vessels. Invasive species can travel just as easily in the cracks and crannies of even the best built vessels.
The Coqui frogs native to Puerto Rico announced their arrival to the big island of Hawaii extremely loudly and are now threating to take route in Los Angeles as well; these frogs made their way to the US as tiny eggs through a seemingly harmless plant nursery trade and are not going away (Goldman 2015). Invasive species are often brought in and go unnoticed for a while since it takes them time to reproduce enough to make an impact on their new environment. However, once in place invasive organisms will kill off native species to the infested area, severely affecting balanced ecosystems (Drake and Lodge 2004, Kurle et al. 2008). Just as the introduced rats changed the intertidal ecosystem in the Aleutian Islands by consuming a large portion of the predatory sea birds, so are the frogs changing the ecosystems in Hawaii by eating all of the bugs that many other animals rely on for food (Kurle et al. 2008, Goldman 2015). …show more content…
One article reader came up with an answer, “Why not study whatever it is that controls this frog in Puerto Rico?” Goldman responded, “Usually it’s a bad idea to introduce yet another non-native species in an effort to control an invader.” I believe that while Goldman has a very valid point, the reader is asking the right questions, ones we all should be asking ourselves in the face of an extremely difficult question. How do you control a species that is able to reproduce effectively and has limited predators in an area without harming the environment more than it already
The Coqui frogs native to Puerto Rico announced their arrival to the big island of Hawaii extremely loudly and are now threating to take route in Los Angeles as well; these frogs made their way to the US as tiny eggs through a seemingly harmless plant nursery trade and are not going away (Goldman 2015). Invasive species are often brought in and go unnoticed for a while since it takes them time to reproduce enough to make an impact on their new environment. However, once in place invasive organisms will kill off native species to the infested area, severely affecting balanced ecosystems (Drake and Lodge 2004, Kurle et al. 2008). Just as the introduced rats changed the intertidal ecosystem in the Aleutian Islands by consuming a large portion of the predatory sea birds, so are the frogs changing the ecosystems in Hawaii by eating all of the bugs that many other animals rely on for food (Kurle et al. 2008, Goldman 2015). …show more content…
One article reader came up with an answer, “Why not study whatever it is that controls this frog in Puerto Rico?” Goldman responded, “Usually it’s a bad idea to introduce yet another non-native species in an effort to control an invader.” I believe that while Goldman has a very valid point, the reader is asking the right questions, ones we all should be asking ourselves in the face of an extremely difficult question. How do you control a species that is able to reproduce effectively and has limited predators in an area without harming the environment more than it already