ENVS 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Daniel Simberloff, Schinus Terebinthifolia, Introduced Species
13 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Critics have argued that the war against invasive species is more about aesthetics than science. Some have even gone so far as to accuse conservationists of. About 90% of invasive species don"t have an impact. By 10% of a large number is a large percentage; the us. alone has 6000 introduced species. 12% of birds threatened with imminent extinction, for 510 of these, the threat is wholly or partly from introduced species. Evidence is often anecdotal, speculative, and based on limited observation. Same could be said about the evidence for every other claimed cause of extinction (habitat destruction, pollution, disease, etc) The last individuals of a species almost always disappear while no one is watching. Many introduced species now recognized as invasive horrors were innocuous in their new homes for decades before they abruptly spread ex. Brazilian pepper was introduced to florida a century before it exploded across the southern part of the state.
