Influx of Foreign Plants, Animals is Called Growing
Environmental Threat
Scientists Meeting Here Get Update on Effects
Copyright 2001 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
October 15, 2001
By William Allen Of The Post-Dispatch
The problem of foreign plants and animals invading the United States is steadily worsening, scientists said Saturday in St. Louis.
This influx of alien species -- if authorities don't combat it soon -- will increase food prices and tax bills as insects, weeds and other invaders devastate farms, rivers, forests and lakes, they said.
"Our landscape has been forever altered," said Sarah Reichard, a biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. "With new shipping technologies, faster transportation and the globalization of trade, invasive organisms are moving around faster than ever before." Reichard and other researchers gave an update on the threat of invasive species to the country at a symposium at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
About 350 scientists from around the nation heard the latest news about invasive weeds, ants, eels, mussels and other animals.
Invasive species are animals and plants from foreign lands that people bring here either intentionally or unintentionally. Unchecked by natural predators, they often establish themselves and sweep across large areas, pushing out native species and driving some of them to the brink of extinction.
Among examples of such invasive species cited Saturday:
* Asian swamp eels, which are moving northward through Florida and Georgia, decimating gamefish populations. The eel can survive cold weather and live out of water, so scientists fear it could spread far north.
* Purple loosestrife, a weed that is displacing native plants in many states, including Missouri and Illinois.
* Zebra mussels, small freshwater mussels from Asia that have moved through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi River and past St. Louis. They are clogging industrial and public water intakes and wiping out native mussels - key players in the food chain supporting all river life.
Several scientists warned that invasive species threaten the nation's "biosecurity." Among the threats are newly invading insects and microorganisms that could affect crop yields severely and disrupt the nation's food supply, they said.
Some said they feared an "invasional meltdown" - a process in which invasive species could disrupt the natural web of life in the United States enough to undermine environmental health, including clean water supplies.
Even though the problem is worsening, "There are many reasons to have some hope," said Elizabeth Chornesky, a biologist with the University of California at Santa Cruz. She cited growing public commitment to conservation and improved knowledge about invasive species and their effects.