Invasive Species: A Threat to Native Wildlife

“These species are not inherently bad. They’re just in the wrong place”, said David Lodge.

Invasive species are among the major threats to native wildlife. Approximately 42 percent of threatened or endangered species are at risk due to invasive species.

An invasive species is a species of a plant or an animal that has been introduced in a non-native environment and can cause ecological, environmental and economic imbalance. Invasive species are primarily spread by humans, usually unintentionally. For example, sometimes while transporting goods they can take with them some foreign species, leaving exotic pets into the wild, etc.

Invasive species pose a serious threat to native wildlife. If an aggressive species is introduced in an ecosystem, it can harm the native wildlife population because the native wildlife does not have any defense mechanism against a predator not found in their region. An invasive species also disrupts the natural food chain of an area further causing an ecological and environmental imbalance.

We don’t realize that because of inadequate knowledge we are also acting as an agent in the spread of invasive species. For example, many a times we see small colorful birds, usually Australian Budgies or Parakeets (Melopsittacus undulatus) cramped up in small cages in pet shops and we decide to free them. Here our intent is very good but the impact is not. First of all by purchasing them, their demand increases and it motivates the shop owner to keep more and more birds, thus more suffering to these beautiful animals. Secondly, when we release them we don’t realize that they are not native to our ecosystem and generally they fall prey to other predators or if they survive then they will further reproduce and can potentially become an invasive species and destroy our native wildlife. The third reason is that in their natural habitat i.e. in Australia, they live in very big flocks and releasing a single budgie can really stress it out.

Case Study – Burmese Pythons: An invasive species in Florida

Hurricane Andrew – a category 5 storm hit Florida in August, 1992. This Hurricane destroyed a python breeding facility which was keeping Burmese Pythons(Python molurus bivitattus). With the devastation of this facility many pythons and a few other species of snakes escaped.

The second reason is pet trade. Many owners do not realize that a cute little Burmese Python is one of the 5 longest snakes on the planet and can reach upto a size of 20 feet. Due to their gigantic size and inability to keep, many unprepared and irresponsible owners release them into the wild.

The warm and marshy habitat of Florida with ample of food has helped them to flourish. Also, another reason which has helped them to thrive as a dominant species is that Burmese Pythons are apex predators and they do not have any natural predator in Florida’s Everglades. They have been seen eating large dears and sometimes even a medium sized American Alligator, which was previously considered as an apex predator.

Low temperatures are harmful for Burmese Pythons. As snakes are cold blooded creatures their body temperature depends upon the temperature in their surroundings and unlike humans and other mammals they cannot maintain their body temperature. Heat is essential for snakes to digest food as it makes the enzymes in their stomach more effective and encourages gut bacteria to thrive. The winters in Florida’s Everglades can be as cold as 2 to 4 degree Celsius. The most stupefying fact is that how Burmese Pythons have adapted to their surroundings. The soil in Everglades is not fit for burrowing so these snakes take shelter in burrows built by armadillos and tortoises. This leaves the native wildlife of the Everglades out in the cold.

“They’re an intelligent species. They’re going to try to seek cover when they can,” said Ian Bartoszek, a wildlife biologist at the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “It’s a natural selection. It’s the ones who have figured out what Florida’s habitat has to offer.”

Today, Burmese Python has already destroyed the mammal population of the Everglades and thus has severely affected its biodiversity. According to one study, between 1997 to 2012 the Everglades racoon, opossum and bobcat population has dropped 99.3, 98.9 and 87.5 respectively. Meanwhile marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, an foxes effectively disappeared. Although these snakes do not possess a threat to humans but they are severely affecting the biodiversity of Florida.

This blog was another example of the wrath of nature when humans tried to interfere. We need to educate ourselves and the people around us so they don’t make such a mistake intentionally or unintentionally. Every animal is their for a reason and changing their natural habitat can disrupt the ecological balance causing suffering to native wildlife and to humans themselves. Lets come together to conserve and protect wildlife.