Invasives Species

What is and are invasive species. Well, let’s break it down to what and who falls into this category.
First “invasive” is something that is intrusive, unwelcome and tends to spread quicky and aggressively. This describes a lot of things in today’s world. How does something get to this point? 1; Does it get carried or put there without its anyone’s knowledge or it’s knowledge. 2; Does it do it on its own, could it be because the life they are living is not a good one and they are looking for a better one to survive. 3; Does it have help getting to this point, is it like when a bridge gets put across a river, a plane or ship that goes from one land mass to another so it can get to the other side easier or transported by a vehicle/boat to sprout/infest. 4; Does being an opportunist and taking advantage of a situation that it sees, that should not be there show an intelligence that it can think. All of these descriptions have already happened and more in real life.
Second “Species” a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. This covers a lot, bacteria, viruses, foliage, insects, marine life, animals, mammals, homo sapiens, aliens and probably more. All of these species did what they had to do to live, they moved around to survive and propagate. They have learned to adapted, fight, change their lifestyle and by doing this they increased their intelligence. With this increased intelligence, they have learned to be an opportunist and to better themselves.
Species as a whole, all act basically the same to survive. It is called the cycle of life; they are born and grow into this world, mature and reproduce so their species can continue and then wither away and die. It may sound cold to put it this way, but all species do this. Now let’s put this together and see how this looks.
Mankind has been around since the beginning of time; it has always been moving and on the go! But mankind has not always been responsible for all invasives species, it has help to do it share of it in the beginning. But when the population of mankind got to a point and started to travel for varies reasons, that is when mankind become responsible for a lot of invasives species movement. When mankind started traveling from one place to another and when ship building got to the point we could travel for days and months on water, this is when invasives species started being brought to other lands. Either they were brought there on propose or by accident. Now let’s break what I said earlier.
1; the Europeans were one of the first invasive spices to this country. When mankind started coming to this country, they brought smallpox and other diseases to the people here and cause a lot of problems like plagues that killed a lot of native people. When sailing ships started coming over here from Europe to load up goods, they put dirt and other things in their ships for ballast. When they got here, they had to unload the dirt from the ship so they could bring the goods back to Europe. That dirt had all sorts of species in it like bugs, lava and earthworm, yes earthworms. Also, birds came over on the ships either by their choice or in cages.
2; Look at all of the people that came here to start a better life, what about the animals they brought here for food (cattle), companionship (pets), entertainment (red fox) and work (horses). What about the foliage they brought for the animals and themselves, what about the seeds for food to grow here? All of these are invasives species too just like the people that brought them.
3; believe it or not, rivers do provide a natural barrier for some land animals to cross. But when we put bridges in, it made it easier for a lot of smaller animals to cross those rivers. Just like the old cliché, “why did the chicken cross the road, because the humans put the road there”. Just like small Zebra clams get moved on boats, the owners will not clean the boat, and they travel to another body of water. What about all the grass that get transported on vehicles, farm equipment and bales of grass for food that we give livestock. How many seeds get spread along the roads and to other states, then sprout and spread. Something for thought; one year of seeds, is seven years of weeds.
4; in general, all creatures “us too” are opportunist, they will seek out the easiest way to survive and or dominate. Look at all of the feral animals that are doing damage to crops and the natural wildlife (cats, pigs, birds, snakes, etc.). In a comparison between us and feral animals, we both are opportunist and are taking advantage of the everything.
In conclusion, all of our problems are human induced, and we will not take reasonability for it or fix it. This will be one of our nails in this country/world coffin.
R. Fleharty