Tag: Invasive species

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Invasive Species

Teaching About Invasive Species Used by permission, Tim Grant, author & publisher
Teaching About Invasive Species Used by permission, Tim Grant, author & publisher
Exotic invasive species. “Exotic”, sounds rather alluring, but “invasive” implies something completely different and undesirable.

Basically, we are referring to any species that is not native to that ecosystem, it can survive and reproduce there, and by its introduction can cause harm to the environment, the economy, wildlife, and human health. And this doesn’t mean just plants. There are also invasive animals and even microorganisms that can disrupt the balance that maintains natural ecosystems.

They usually have some means of dominance over native species, such as superior reproduction or faster growth success. They may also have unique forms of defense against native predators. Being newly introduced to an area, they may not even have any competition from similar species, or natural predators may not exist in their new area at all. Their advantages can outcompete native species at alarming rates and result in a reduction, or elimination, of biodiversity in huge areas. And research has proven that having a diversity of native life forms improves the health of ecosystems.

Organizations dealing with agriculture, forestry, fisheries, wildlife and waterways estimate that the annual costs to try to control invasive species in our country exceeds $120 billion dollars. And, whether you are a supporter of the Endangered Species Act or not, a quote from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service states “More than 400 of the over 1,300 species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act,…..are considered to be at risk at least partly due to displacement by, competition with, and predation by invasive species.”

In Utah, there are 596 invasive plant species, 28 invasive insects, and a few mammals too. I’ll simply mention a few and why they are so problematic: In the water we are plagued with Quagga and Zebra Mussels, Carp , and plants like Purple Loosestrife. One adult Zebra Mussel can produce one million larvae that mature in one year.

Africanized Honeybees have been sneaking into our State, and they can be very aggressive.
Some of the more common invasive plants include: Russian Olive,
Field bindweed, Dyer’s Woad, Russian and Canada thistle, Stinging Nettle, Tamarisk, …..even Kentucky Bluegrass is on the list. The yellow Dyer’s Woad plant that covers many of our hillside grazing lands, is prolific and may produce 10,000 seeds per plant

The European Starling and English House Sparrow are two birds that don’t belong here, but have been extremely successful by inhabiting all 50 States and occupy nesting sites and deplete food sources of our native American songbirds.

Mammals include the Red Fox, Muskrat, White-tailed Deer (which might excite some hunters), and the adorable Raccoon which may be one of the best examples of the problems invasive species can cause. Raccoons can damage homes, fruit trees, and gardens, kill chickens, cats, migratory birds, pheasants, ducks, quail and grouse. They can also spread disease to other mammals as they eat out of garbage cans, carry fleas, ticks, lice, distemper, mange, and blood tests have shown that 80% of them have been exposed to rabies as indicated by the presence of a rabies titer.

For more information, search online for the topic of interest, plus Utah State University. Or get the book “Teaching About Invasive Species” edited by Tim Grant.

This is Ron Hellstern, and I am Wild About Utah.
 
Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Tim Grant, GreenTeacher.com
Text: Ron Hellstern, Cache Valley Wildlife Association

Additional Reading

Leavitt, Shauna, The Invasive Phragmites, https://wildaboututah.org/invasive-phragmites/

Posted on

Exotic Invasive Species

Teaching About Invasive Species Used by permission, Tim Grant, author & publisher
Teaching About Invasive Species Used by permission, Tim Grant, author & publisher

Exotic invasive species. “Exotic”, sounds rather alluring, but “invasive” implies something completely different and undesirable.

Basically, we are referring to any species that is not native to that ecosystem, it can survive and reproduce there, and by its introduction can cause harm to the environment, the economy, wildlife, and human health. And this doesn’t mean just plants. There are also invasive animals and even microorganisms that can disrupt the balance that maintains natural ecosystems.

They usually have some means of dominance over native species, such as superior reproduction or faster growth success. They may also have unique forms of defense against native predators. Being newly introduced to an area, they may not even have any competition from similar species, or natural predators may not exist in their new area at all. Their advantages can outcompete native species at alarming rates and result in a reduction, or elimination, of biodiversity in huge areas. And research has proven that having a diversity of native life forms improves the health of ecosystems.

Organizations dealing with agriculture, forestry, fisheries, wildlife and waterways estimate that the annual costs to try to control invasive species in our country exceeds $120 billion dollars. And, whether you are a supporter of the Endangered Species Act or not, a quote from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service states “More than 400 of the over 1,300 species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act,…..are considered to be at risk at least partly due to displacement by, competition with, and predation by invasive species.”

In Utah, there are 596 invasive plant species, 28 invasive insects, and a few mammals too. I’ll simply mention a few and why they are so problematic: In the water we are plagued with Quagga and Zebra Mussels, Carp , and plants like Purple Loosestrife. One adult Zebra Mussel can produce one million larvae that mature in one year.

Africanized Honeybees have been sneaking into our State, and they can be very aggressive.
Some of the more common invasive plants include: Russian Olive, Field bindweed, Dyer’s Woad, Russian and Canada thistle, Stinging Nettle, Tamarisk, …..even Kentucky Bluegrass is on the list. The yellow Dyer’s Woad plant that covers many of our hillside grazing lands, is prolific and may produce 10,000 seeds per plant

The European Starling and English House Sparrow are two birds that don’t belong here, but have been extremely successful by inhabiting all 50 States and occupy nesting sites and deplete food sources of our native American songbirds.

Mammals include the Red Fox, Muskrat, White-tailed Deer (which might excite some hunters), and the adorable Raccoon which may be one of the best examples of the problems invasive species can cause. Raccoons can damage homes, fruit trees, and gardens, kill chickens, cats, migratory birds, pheasants, ducks, quail and grouse. They can also spread disease to other mammals as they eat out of garbage cans, carry fleas, ticks, lice, distemper, mange, and blood tests have shown that 80% of them have been exposed to rabies as indicated by the presence of a rabies titer.

For more information, search online for the topic of interest, plus Utah State University. Or get the book “Teaching About Invasive Species” edited by Tim Grant.

This is Ron Hellstern, and I am Wild About Utah.
 
Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Tim Grant, GreenTeacher.com
Audio: Courtesy Western Soundscape Archive, University of Utah, Sound provided by Jeff Rice, licenesed under CCA-ND
Text: Ron Hellstern, Cache Valley Wildlife Association

Additional Reading

Leavitt, Shauna, The Invasive Phragmites, https://wildaboututah.org/invasive-phragmites/

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American Invasion

Eurasian Collared Dove, Courtesy invasivespecies.org, Joy Viola, Northwestern University, Photographer
Eurasian Collared Dove
Streptopelia decaocto
Courtesy & © invasivespecies.org/bugwood.org
Joy Viola, Northwestern University, Photographer

Colorado Potato Bug, Courtesy insectimages.org/bugwood.org, USDA ARS, PhotographerColorado Potato Beetle Adult
Leptinotarsa decemlineata
Courtesy IPMimages.org/bugwood.org
USDA ARS, Photographer

Hi, I’m Holly Strand from the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University.

More and more you are likely to hear this sound in Utah yards, parks and fields. [Eurasian Collared Dove, Courtesy Ryan O’Donnell, www.xeno-canto.org/98068] That’s the call of the Eurasian collared dove. Originally from Asia, this dove has been expanding its territory around the world at an incredible rate. The first sighting in Utah was in Orem in 1997. And now the doves are everywhere. So far, it doesn’t look like our native mourning dove is affected. But such rapid population explosions rarely occur without some sort of undesirable ecological consequence.

In America, the Eurasian collared dove is an invasive species. But not all non-native species are invasive. “Invasive” only applies when species spread far beyond the area where they are first introduced. Luckily, not all invasive species turn out to be serious pests. Ecologist Mark Williamson suggested the tens rule. About 10% of introduced species establish lasting populations and 10% of those go on to become problems.

There’s a long list of Eurasian invasives in Utah. Among them is the highly flammable cheat grass that comes from southwestern Asia. Those massive clouds of starlings? They come from Europe. Tamarisk from Eurasian deserts lines the Colorado River and tributaries. The common carp is an unwelcome Eurasian colonist of our lakes and large rivers. And the American west’s iconic tumbleweed is an invader from the Russian steppe.

Why so many invaders from Eurasia? Well for the last 500 years, there has been a net outflow of Eurasians—especially Europeans—to other parts of the world. And this human population carried its biological baggage along with it—in the form of animals, plants and diseases. Some ecologists believe that the physical geography and human history of Eurasia has conditioned its species in such a way that they will consistently outcompete the species of other continents. But that’s debatable. For in the last decades the New World has started to lob some pretty competitive species over to Eurasia.

For example, the American mink was brought to the Eurasian continent in the 1920s for use on fur farms. But–because of deliberate releases and accidental escapes–the mink is now common in the European wild. And it’s a pest. The American mink is taking the place of the European mink which is now threatened with extinction. Furthermore, the American mink is gobbling up populations of many ground-nesting birds.

Unless you are involved in agriculture, you might not have heard of the Colorado potato beetle. But potato growers around the globe know this striped orange and brown beetle from the American southwest very well. It has a voracious appetite for potato leaves and quickly develops resistance to any chemicals used against it.

And a final example: the American bullfrog is considered one of the world’s most damaging invasives. The bullfrog does amazingly well in a variety of habitats –even artificial ones like millponds, irrigation ditches and reservoirs. Its incredible adaptability helps it spread and outcompete native frogs. Moreover, it has been transmitting a deadly fungus to previously unaffected populations of frogs, toads and salamanders.

Thanks to Lyle Bingham for information on the Eurasian collared dove. And to Ryan ODonnell for his audio recording from xeno-canto.org. For more information on the Eurasian collared dove and other invasive species go to www.wildaboututah.org.

For Wild About Utah, and the Quinney College of Natural Resouces, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:

1. Photographer Joy Viola, Northwestern University, Bugwood.org https://www.invasive.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5413582
2. USDA ARS Photo Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood. https://www.insectimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1321015

Audio of Eurasian collared dove:
Ryan P. O’Donnell, XC98068. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/98068.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5

Text: Stokes Nature Center: Holly Strand

Sources & Additional Reading:

Bingham, Lyle. 2009. The New Dove in the Neighborhood. Wild About Utah Program https://wildaboututah.org/the-new-dove-in-the-neighborhood/ October 8, 2009.

di Castri F. 1989. History of biological invasions with special emphasis on the Old
World. In: Drake JA, Mooney HA, di CastriF, Groves RH, Kruger FJ, Rejma´nek
M, Williamson M, eds. Biological invasions: a global perspective. Chichester, UK:
John Wiley and Sons.

European Environment Agency, 2012. The impacts of invasive alien species in Europe EEA Technical report No. 16/2012. EEA, Copenhagen.

National Invasive Species Information Center (NISIC): Gateway to invasive species information; covering Federal, State, local, and international sources.
https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/index.shtml

Simberloff, Daniel. 2013. Invasive Species: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press

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The New Dove in the Neighborhood

Eurasian Collared Dove
Note the black collar
and the broad square tail
Courtesy Stephen Peterson

Native Mourning Dove
Courtesy USFWS

During the winter after most doves have migrated, you may notice a dove foraging along the roadside or perched in a tree. A new species has arrived in our neighborhood, the Eurasian collared dove or Streptopelia decaocto, which has a distinctive black neck ring and a broad tail.

Originally found near the Bay of Bengal in Asia, this dove began its range expansion in the 1600’s. By 1900, it had made its way to Turkey, and by 2000 could be found as far north as the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia. Expansion into North America occurred in the early seventies when the collared dove appeared in the Bahamas. Since 1982, when first discovered in Florida, it has been gradually making its way north and west. Nineteen ninety-seven marked the first official report of Eurasian collared doves in Orem, Utah. Now they have spread throughout the state.

Eurasian collared doves join rock pigeons, the English sparrow, and the European starling as non-native birds that have expanded across the country. Experts attribute the success of Eurasian collared doves to the wide availability of seed offered by backyard bird feeders, as well as their ability to aggressively defend feeding areas. Some fear that they will cause territory or breeding problems for our native mourning dove, but so far there is no evidence to support this concern.

In an effort to reduce the number of Eurasian collared doves, the Utah DWR allows year-round harvesting. But be careful: don’t confuse this dove with the smaller mourning dove, which has a narrow, pointed tail and no ring on its neck. Eurasian collared doves have a distinct neck band and a broad, squared tail. Their calls also differ.

The mourning dove has the familiar melodic call:
[coo-ah cooo cooo coo]
[Kevin Colver, Songbirds of the Rocky Mountains
12 Mourning Dove]

Now listen to the Eurasian collared dove:
[“coo-coooo-coo”, “coo-coooo-coo”, “coo-coooo-coo”, “krreair”]
[Eurasian collared dove – From Kevin Colver’s private library
Two calls combined for this piece.]

The verdict is still out on the impact that the Eurasian collared dove will have on native species. In the mean time, let’s watch to see how this new dove adapts to the neighborhood and fits into the ecosystem.

Thank-you to Lyle Bingham of Bridgerland Audubon for writing this essay and to Kevin Colver for providing the recorded songs.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photos: Courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and Stephen Peterson, Bridgerland Audubon
Recordings: Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections
Voice: Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon
Text: Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading:
—
Florida’s Introduced Birds: Eurasian collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), Stephen A. Johnson and Gay Donaldson-Fortier, University of Florida IFAS Extension, WEC 256,https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/UW/UW30100.pdf —
Johnson, S.A. and *G. Donaldson-Fortier. 2009. Florida’s introduced birds: The Eurasian CollaredDove (Streptopelia decaocto). Florida Cooperative Extension Service Publication WEC 256 https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/download/117916/115917

Tricky Bird IDs: Eurasian Collared-Dove and African Collared-Dove, Project FeederWatch, A Joint Project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada, https://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/EucdovRitdovID.htm

Romagosa, Christina Margarita. 2002. Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: https://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/630/articles/introduction

2009-2010 Upland Game Guidebook, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks/2009-10_upland_game/2009-10_upland_game.pdf

Complete Birds of North America, ed. Jonathan Alderfer, National Geographic, 2006

Know Your Doves, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, State of Texas, https://tpwd.texas.gov/education/hunter-education/know-your-doves