Weeds Vs Rapa

An invasive species is a species that comes out of its natural environment, and enters another. These animals are usually very bad for the ecosystem and may cause an unbalance. These animals usually come in with many competitive advantages and can easily dominate any competition. This will give them the ability to eat as much as they would like without being threatened in any way. This could possibly diminish many populations and end an entire ecosystem.

Competition happens between two or more things. In talking about plants they compete with each to survive. When competing against each other to survive they are using soil, water, nitrogen, and space. In using theses resources and having theses available gives the plant a greater chance in living. Even though plants compete environmental wise it is still scene that there is a lot of unknown to why plants compete. Some researchers believe it could be because of the root size of an individual plant or the size of the seed, which gives it better competition in surviving (Miller, 1995). Different types of competition can happen between plants likes intraspecific and interspecific competition. Miller (1995) believes there is not enough research shown to make a determination as to why competition between plants happens and that there should be research done in looking at the evolution of plants in different environments where they can compete with each other. In looking at competition in plants in class the experiment that we conducted looks at the Brassica rapa in a intraspecific competition in different densities. Miller (1995) found that the B. rapa in intraspecific competition did have increase in the number of flowers that were produced. Comparing this to the finding of Miller, when looking at different densities of plants in a interspecific competition could the B. rapa have more of a change in growth because a higher density will have more seeds and the B.

For both interspecific and intraspecific competition the radish did its best however at the lowest density of 32. (Figure 1) These results did support our hypothesis that the lower the density the better the growth and the radish would thrive better at intraspecific competition however was refuted with us predicting that wheat would do better in interspecific competition. These results can possibly be explained by the idea of density-dependent growth meaning that as you increase population, resources such as light, soil, and water decrease and vice versa (Walsh and Walsh 2015). Also a possible explanation for our results is that the radish shoots were longer, taller, more in number versus the wheat shoots that were short, broad and few in number. The theory of allocating more roots if the there is less sun and bigger shots if there is less nutrient rich soil is shown in the experiment of intraspecific and interspecific competition of beans, in the end that beans that had more competition and the soil was poor had bigger leaves at the expense of its neighbors (Mania et al.

Issue: The environmental issue that I have chosen is the impact that invasive species have on the environment. The impact that invasive species have on the environment is vast, yet little is done about it. This issue is extremely important and will impact the world for generations to come. In this paper, I hope to learn about the effect they have on environment and what we can do about it.

Since organisms living in communities form interdependent relationships, a change in the abundance of one species will not only affect the physical and more direct interactions, but could indirectly affect the number of other species within the community as a consequence (Wootton 1993). These indirect affects rise because the interactions between pairs of species are not independent of other species, such as increasing the density of vegetation may increase the survival rate of the prey, reducing the intensity of the interaction between the predator and prey (Wootton 1993, 1994). An

Biodiversity boots ecosystem productivity where every little species plays an important role in maintaining a healthy community. Maintaining a viable habitat requires lots of efforts, determination and frequency. Invasive plants are a major threat to our natural environment. These invasions change the natural diversity and balance of ecological communities. They threaten the survival of many plants and animals. They are excellent at surviving and reproducing which out-compete the native plants. Understanding these huge consequences let us understand why volunteer activities like this are so helpful and needed. They play a huge part in contributing to our environment in many positive ways. Removing these invasive plants are helping a lot in restoring the habitat and giving native plants greater chance for survival. As time went by, these efforts will slowly help cleaning our atmosphere, providing our environment with fresh air and improve health effects in human (Sagoff,

For example, the cross-pollination of these edited plants to weed species could lead to a complete takeover in an ecosystem, not unlike the effects of kudzu. Likewise, the fact that these plants are so resistant to natural threats could easily lead to occurrences not unlike those regarding invasive species, where non-native plants replace native plants in the local ecology. It could even be said that much of an area’s specific tradition could be lost to the growth of these new crops, as the people in these areas would no longer depend on the native crops, instead adopting the agriculture of Western society. This potential annihilation by plant life is a prime example of takeover by technology, not unlike the story of “The

Within communities, organisms compete for limited resources (food, space, mates, shelter). 613 of our native species (plants, birds, fish), compete with 240 introduced plant species, 19 introduced bird species, 9 introduced mammals and 2 amphibians. It is estimated that we have lost 30 native bird species due to this competition.

An invasive species is any kind of living organism that is not native to an ecosystemand usually causes harm to the ecosystem (National Wildlife Federation, 2014). Native species have not coevolved with the invasive species and may not have the ability to deal with the introduced species (Holway et al. 2002). The Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta) is a relatively aggressive species of ant native to South America. It was introduced on multiple occasions into the United States in the early- to mid-1900s (Callcott et al. 1996). Since then, it has spread to the very borders of its geographical climate tolerance, and through acclimation, hybridization, and the effects of global climate change, has managed to extend its range much farther than experts ever anticipated. It is now the subject of much research, as it has impacted not only ecological communities but the agricultural economy as well. It is estimated that RIFA have an impact of around $6 billion a year due to control, medical treatment, and damage to property (Lard et al. 2006). Agriculturally, Red Imported Fire Ants can cause financial damages in a number of different ways including eating various parts of the plant or causing the disruption of machinery. (Collins and Scheffrahn, Last Accessed 2014)

While Ralph Waldo Emerson believes a weed "is a plant whose virtues haven't been discovered" weeds are "a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants." When a plant or animal is physically moved by humans to an environment whey they didn’t naturally occur they are known as introduced species, also called alien species. Introduced species have been a vital aspect in the fight against biodiversity loss, controlling of invasive species and adaptation to climate change. An introduced species can be an essential part of conservation when a native species that plays a significant role in an ecosystem becomes extinct. However, on the other hand, introduced species can be immense, insidious, and usually irreversible.

Repelling Invader, addresses invasive, alien plant species that threaten native species and ecosystems in Hawaii. Psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava) and Miconia calveescens (velvet tree) are two notorious invasive species to tropical islands. Strawberry guava is known to form monotypic stands in native forests that displace native Hawaiian species and spread by the means of seed dispersal and asexual reproduction. The velvet tree possess the ability to germinate in minimal light, grow through holes in the forest canopy, and outcompete neighboring native plants for sunlight. Site managers are currently combatting these invasive plant species by the means of mechanical and chemical control methods, however many of times the plants regenerate. Biocontrols that host on these foreign plants in their native land are currently being tested for host specificity so that the biocontrol exclusively attacks the target plant and not the native flora. Before the establishment of biocontrols regulations, there were numerous mistakes including the introduction of the mongoose that attacked native Hawaiian bird populations instead of the alien rat population. Now there is a structured process to screen biocontrol agents for host specificity

Coccinia grandis is a common invasive plant species found on Hawaii (KISC, 2015). This vine-like plant displays broad, flat leaves with star-shaped white flowers, and is characterized by chili-like red fruits (Fox, 2008, p.D8). According to Fox, C. grandis (also referred to as 'Ivy Gourd') is native to parts of Southeast Asia, India, and Africa, and it is likely that this hardy (and hard to eradicate) plant found its way to the Hawaiian islands as a hidden passenger on immigrants from these areas. It is well established that C. grandis is a harmful invasive species posing a threat to native Hawaiian plants and ecosystems in direct and indirect ways. Despite the plant's negative effects on Hawaiian plants, however, research has shown that C.

There are problems in obtaining measure of hazard posed by weeds and quantifying uncertainty and variability (Hulme 2012). Labelling on a scale of one to three may also neglects complexities of the species and limit accuracy of the evaluation. Pheloung et al. 1999 proposed that the environmental questions were originally targeted at environmental weeds, which therefore limits the ability to identify forest invaders (Dawson et al. 2009). Also, Daehler et al. (2004) found that it could identify invaders of natural ecosystems in Hawaii and Pacific islands more or less as well as invaders of ecosystems altered by humans. However, communities of islands are rarely undisturbed, diverse or as complex as continental equivalents and therefore expected to be invaded by exotic species (Denslow 2003). It has been suggested that the Weed Risk Assessment does not operate as it should, and only applies to new plants, not to species already in Australia (Lowe 2003). Finally, people may fail to understand the criteria set out in the assessment. A better explanation for each question may be necessary to achieve accurate outcomes into the impacts of the

Ross, MA & CA Lembi. 2009. Applied Weed Science: Including the Ecology and Management of Invasive Plants (3rd Ed). Prentice Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. USA. 561 pp. ISBN 0-13-502814-0

The biodiversity effects of non-native invasive species have been described as “immense, insidious and usually irreversible” (Veitch and Clout, 2002). There is significant evidence proving that invasive species can cause severe economic, environmental and ecological damage (Mack et al., 2000). A lot of time and research has been devoted to dividing the world into regions with distinctive habitats and species. Numerous pathways, mostly anthropogenic, are breaking down these realms and facilitating the ecological and biological invasion of non-native species.