InvasiveSpecies-ScienFairProject

= Invasive Species  =

Background:
Invasive Species are non-native or alien species to the ecosystem. They can be defined as “invaders” to a habitat that natively is not theirs. Their introduction to these ecosystems causes or is likely to cause many different types of problems. They are usually cause a major threat to ecosystem health (especially where ecosystems are already impacted) and global biodiversity because of the transport of species in essence creates one global ecosystem. Invasive species is a major factor in species extinction, especially in tropical climates and on islands. They can economical harm humans as well. Invasive species can be plants, animals, and other organisms, they are like pests in the foreign ecosystem. In the foreign ecosystem, they are usually organisms that dominate ecosystems, because they are kept to lower population numbers by predators, diseases and other ecosystem interactions like competition. These invaders may even cause the species to becomes endangered.

To this day there are a total of 20,119 endangered plant and animal species. Scientists believe that more than two thirds of the plants and animals that once inhabited earth are now extinct. It has gotten to the point that cloning endangered species has become a reality. Animals and plants become endangered species due to some natural factors but also due to human activity. Pollution kills many of the animals in the water wildlife because they consume things that people have littered that either destroy them on the inside or disable them to breathe. For example if you throw a plastic bag into the ocean and a seagull gets caught up in it, it can drown and die. Other reasons why animals become endangered species are because of non-native species. These non-native species are the invasive species and in some cases have even cause extinction.

Extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms, simply the species no longer exists. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point. Extinction happens through a natural cause, usually because of climate changes, predators, environmental factors or human involvement. Humanity's impact has triggered many massive extinctions. Extinction rates have increased due to human impact. The earth has transformed nearly half of it’s land and created 50 dead zones in the world’s oceans because of extinction. A study has warned that “The simultaneous effect of habitat fragmentation, overexploitation, and climate warming could accelerate the decline of populations and substantially increase their risk of extinction”.

(Sunflowers are an example of an invasive flower.)

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"Causes of Endangerment." //Endangered Species - EndangeredSpecie.com//. Web. 05 Nov. 2011. < [|__http://www.endangeredspecie.com/causes_of_endangerment.htm__] >.

//Earth's Endangered Creatures//. Web. 05 Nov. 2011. < [|__http://www.earthsendangered.com/full_list.asp__] >.

"Invasive Species: Economic Impacts." //National Invasive Species Information Center//. 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 04 Nov. 2011. < [|__http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/economic/main.shtml__] >.

Mora, Camilo. "Risk of Extinction Accelerated Due to Interacting Human Threats." //EurekAlert! - Science News//. 7 Feb. 2007. Web. 05 Nov. 2011. < [|__http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/du-roe020707.php__] >.

Thomas, Ellen. "Invasive Species." //Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation//. Web. 05 Nov. 2011. < [|__http://ethomas.web.wesleyan.edu/ees123/invasive_species.htm__] >.