A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

You may have heard of invasive species. It’s a pretty hot topic in the agricultural and environmental world these days. For some people invasive species may bring up images of pythons in the Everglades. While we don’t have any pythons in the woods around here (and I am very thankful for that) we do have many invasive species that have a drastic impact on our environment and economy. Let’s talk about invasive species, how they got here, and what you can do to prevent the spread of invasive species.

Invasive species can be plants, animals, insects, or diseases. We have some of each of those up here. Sometimes invasive species are brought in intentionally with good intent. That is the case with Kudzu. Kudzu was originally brought in by the US government to help provide erosion control. Kudzu can do a very good job of that, but most of the time it goes overboard and takes over entire fields. Asian lady bugs are another example of an invasive that was brought in for a good purpose. Asian lady bugs help control aphid populations in pecan orchards. However, they also decide to spend the winter in people’s homes sometimes.

Wild pigs are an invasive species that were originally brought by the European settlers as a food source. Autumn olive was brought over because of the attractive red berries that it has. Japanese knotweed has been popping up here and has been used as an ornamental plant. Empress tree was also brought over as an ornamental plant. The hemlock woolly Adelgid was accidentally brought in to Virginia and has worked its way southward, destroying hemlock trees along its path.

Invasive species can cause a lot of damage to existing native populations. Sometimes they can wipe out native populations entirely. This is usually because the natural predators that exist in the invasive species’ natural home aren’t present, giving them free rein. One might think that a solution would be to introduce the predators as well. This is usually not done because of the concern that introducing another invasive species will only make the issue worse in the long run.

Not all non-native species that have been introduced are known for decimating the environment. In fact honey bees were not present in North America until Europeans brought them over. There are other species of bees which are native and are active pollinators, but the honey bee had to be brought over by settlers. Honey bees are usually not thought of as being an evil invasive species, and rightfully so, because of all the benefits that they bring. This just goes to show that not all outside species that are brought in are bad, but we should take great care when bringing in new species because the impact that they will have is largely unknown.

The approach to control an invasive species will vary depending on its habitat, life cycle, and severity of impact. The best control will be early on before the spread becomes extreme. Most of the time pesticides will be required to control an invasive species. There are more invasive species that we have than what I have talked about here. If you need help with invasive species control or identification contact your local Extension Office or email me at Jacob.Williams@uga.edu.

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