Threatening UK's wildlife

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/alien-invaders-threatening-uks-wildlife-044852882.html#P9wTucZ
Spruce keep your bees safe xx

 

This is a subject I have a slightly different opinion on, that you may expect.. conservationists certainly won't agree.

Whilst I agree with the overall idea, but alot of alien invaders got here by natural means, which means they have a right to be here. Very few 'native' plants are really native, they found their way here.. holly for example, and every other woodland tree. English Ivy which is so wonderfully English, is actually originally from the Canary Islands. Rhododendron ponticum comes from the same place as 'Engish Ivy', Holly, and Yew trees which we all accept are native..

Most of these things got here without the aid of man.

At the end of the day, we're alien invaders.

Take steps to protect the vulnerable wildlife, but anything that colonises our soils have every right to be there under the laws of nature unfortunately.. and we do not govern nature (or we shouldn't anyway).

The way I see it is, if it shouldn't be here, it will die. Competition has winners and losers, and the human pastime of introducing alien species is very natural indeed!

 

It is indeed a 'natural' human trait, but perhaps unwise in some instances. Ask an Australian for an opinion on who is the loser after the introduction of rabbits in the late 1700s or cane toads in the 1930s.

 

Indeed.. most instances are accidental, or at the time no knowledge was known of the impact on our biodoversity.. if someone did it to genuinely cause harm to an ecosystem, that's a different matter of course (I believe people have done this in the past, as a means of revenge?) and action should be taken legally, to prevent people from doing this.

Unfortunately though when a pest gets in, if it's really well adapted to the area it's introduced to, then it's almost impossible, if not impossible to eradicate it.

It's actually a very difficult task to prevent aliens getting in.. even border control isn't sometimes enough.

Human's mean well.. and I think we should keep trying to conserve the species we have here, but unfortunately nature doesn't discriminate between conservation and opportunity.

Despite this, alien invaders sometimes have great benefits, but these are rarely mentioned.

 

So, question: does that mean that our native species are good citizens and don't "invade" other countries and colonise there? And, if they do, are they innocent invaders, or do they also cause imbalances?

 

It's not a matter of "ours good; theirs bad".
Any plant or animal in the wrong place has the potential to do harm and a lot of environmental damage.

 

Of course.

How to define "wrong place"? For example, as Stephen identifies, if it is thriving in the environment, it clearly isn't the "wrong place" for that species. If it were, they would perish.

 

We as a species aren't 'supposed' to colonise areas outside the tropics as it is away from our native range. However we adapted and spread. We are no different from the invaders we try to quell. For example given I did a lot of research on Rhododendron ponticum in uni... Well this species is so close to our ecological biome that it thrives here. In fact there is limited fossil evidence to suggest it was once native here. Marine and freshwater animals are likely to do much better because of the less varied ecosystems than on land.

Nature can introduce things very fast when it wants to. Humans are ruled by/are nature but we often separate ourselves from it.

 

Bee keepers having been keeping a eye for a couple of years with the Asian Hornet , the big threat is at the moment and not here yet ? is Hive beetle.

 

I think the asian hornet has been seen in southeast England... I presume by Asian hornet we are talking of the Japanese hornet? If so human lives could be at stake if that's the case.

 

As far as I know and I would of been informed not yet in the UK , BUT are in France so this year I do expect that they will be here , lorry car or just fly over the Channel .

Something else to contend with , I have my wasp traps at the ready .

Spruce

 

Would wasp traps work? For those that haven't seen them, these are imposing massive insects. I recently spoke to someone on another plant forum, who lives in Japan, he said he was buzzed by one of these, and the buzz was very loud.. itwas basically terrifying.

 

Well I hope they do

http://www.waspbane.com/?page_id=982

Spruce

 

I agree these should be stopped.. these are directly in competition with humans as well.. and bees are majorly important. We should stop at nothing to eradicate Japanese Hornets should they come here, in much the way as they resolve to eradicate bees nests for their purpose. Swings and roundabouts.

One Japanese Hornet made it here (to UK), but thankfully it was not pregnant.