Preserving what we have.

Environmental problems.

Aside from the problems with water delivery systems and transportation, that is, infrastructure, these weeds pose a potentially far more devastating problem, that problem is environmental in nature, and has to do with biodiversity in particular.

Interdependence.

In any ecosystem, animals are dependent on plant life. Plants depend to some degree on the existence of other plants for proper shade, nutrients, and other, more complex, symbiosis. The removal of one from the mix, is potentially destructive to flora and fauna. The removal of all except one, can completely alter life as we know it! The effect can be more wide spread than you might imagine, moving from one region to another rapidly, and effecting one species after another as parts of the whole dissolve!

The simple answer:

The answer to that question is” Billions of dollars in damage and control efforts, and the most significant loss of biodiversity in history!

We are talking serious, almost irreparable damage to eco systems, and it has gone global! A vine that might be fine in China, may swallow an entire forest in the Southern part of the United States! An aquatic fern may present no problems in it’s native South America, yet engulf rivers, ponds and lakes in the Southern U.S.

Such are the cases of Kudzu and Salvinia Molesta. There are dozens of others, and with the nature of global commerce and global travel, we can expect many more!

When these plants invade, they may be relatively inactive for years, then make giant leaps, seemingly, over night! Salvinia Molesta can double in 5 to 7 days, moving from 1 plant to 60 million in under 2 months, and I have personally watched kudzu grow measurably on a warm summer day!

The numbers:

According to the National Invasive Species Information Center, some estimates put the economic cost associated with invasive species damage and control efforts at more than $100 billion a year in the United States. That is some of the economic damage, but the cost in terms of lost native species is beyond our capacity to fully understand!

A growing invasive species problem.

Landscape plants join the invasion.

I mention these in particular, because they were once used as landscape plants, and even after release into the native flora, remained relatively low profile for the majority of my life, until now! Their seeming dormancy for years underscores one of the problems with non native flora. They may be innocuous, until conditions change slightly. Weather patterns, symbiotic relationships between newly introduced flora, and other factors may turn them from small sleeper cells, to major armies!

Bigger problems, mega invaders.

Those are the little problems, which amount to large problems when taken together. The serious problems are such plants as Kudzu, from China, Giant Salvinia , and Water Hyacinth from South America, Hydrilla, and Eurasian Milfoil from Europe, Asia, and Africa.

These plants have had relatively short times in the Southern U.S., but have caused colossal difficulty, costing billions in damage and control efforts during their short stay. Kudzu, like almost all such invaders, was relatively tame in the Northern portions of the country, where it was imported as a forage plant. When it was introduced into the South for forage, and erosion control, things changed. The warmer temperatures, fertile soils, high humidity, and longer growing seasons sent it into a growing frenzy, eating millions of acres as it grew. The same is true of the other plants mentioned above.