Invasive Species

1. Invasive Species By Megajude and Phil The Thrill

2. American Bullfrog The American Bullfrog is an invasive species because it can eat just about anything. This can impact the environment in a very negative way because lots of species can go extinct. It has predators, but it produces a toxin that will prevent them from eating it. They originated from central Florida and they have been spotted in New York. A method of eradication is electro shocking.

3. American Mink The American Mink is a very invasive species because they kill all of our wildlife, birds, and poultry for the fun of it! They escaped from fur farms in UK in the mid 50s. They snuck on boats and got shipped in America. They have been spotted in NY and even in Randolph!

4. Eastern Gray Squirrel The Eastern Gray squirrel is an invasive species because it eats all the nuts out of trees. It eats so many that a lot of the Red Squirrels are going extinct. They originated where we lived, but they are still a threat to other squirrels. They have been spotted in NY.

5. Green Iguana The Green Iguana is a major threat to the environment because it can kill off a lot of humans, the native iguanas, and a lot of the other animals. They originated in the Caribbean Islands, Northern Mexico, Central America, and the rainforests of Brazil. They have spread throughout the country. They have been spotted in NY.

6. Russian Olive The Russian Olive is an aggressively invasive plant species because it other plants’s natural cycles and it deplete water reserves. It can use nitrogen to thrive and grow in places where cottonweed trees have died. They are native in western and central Asia, southern Russia, Turkey, Iran, and certain places in Pakistan. They were purposely brought to the US because it was thought to be an ornamental plant. It then became a problem in the US. Been spotted in NY.

7. Giant Hogweed The Giant Hogweed is a dangerous plant species because it grows everywhere, and very fast, and it can take over ecosystems. If you touch it, you can get rashes that can become scars and it can also cause long term sunlight sensitivity. They originated in Asia and have been brought over by people who thought of it as an ornamental plant and then it spread. They have been spotted in NY.

8. Eurasian Collared Doves The Eurasian Collared Doves are a serious ecological threat because they are very successful at colonizing and breeding. They steal food, aggressively defend it, and drive off other birds. They also carry a disease triggering parasite called Trichomonas Gallinae which can kill other birds. They originated in the Indian and European regions but they Made their way to the Americas. They have been spotted in NY.

9. Asian clam The Asian Clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller) is native to the fresh waters of eastern and southern Asia. It was likely introduced to the West Coast of North America around 1930, initially assumed to have been imported as a food source for the immigrating Chinese population (USACE ERDC 2007). Alternatively, it may have come in with the importation of the Giant Pacific oyster also from the Asia (Foster 2012). Live Asian clams were first detected in US waters in 1938 in the Columbia River, Washington; the species quickly spread across the continent and is currently found in 44 states. Corbicula was detected in the Ohio River in 1957 and continues to spread through drainages in the Midwest and Northeast. In New York State, the Asian clam has been collected in the running waters of central and western portions of the state, the Erie Canal from Lockport east to Clyde (shells only, colonization status unknown), Canandaigua Lake Outlet (shells only, colonization status unknown), Canandaigua, Keuka, Otisco, Owasco, and Seneca Lakes in the Finger Lakes, the Hudson River from Troy to Newburgh, the Wallkill River (colonization status unknown), the Champlain Canal near Fort Edwards, Lake George, and in Massapequa Lake and a number of other ponds and streams and the Massapequa Reservoir on Long Island.

10. Emerald ash boar The Emerald Ash Borer, Argil's planipennis Fairbairn Coleopteran Buprestid, commonly referred to as EAB, is an invasive wood-boring beetle. Native to Asia, the beetle’s first North American populations were confirmed in the summer of 2002 in southeast Michigan and in Windsor, Ontario. EAB was likely introduced to the area in the mid-1990’s in ash wood used for shipping pallets and packing materials in cargo ships or shipping containers. Emerald ash borers feed on and eventually kill all native ash trees Fraxinusspp.. Slowing their spread is imperative.

11. Northern snakehead It is believed that the northern snakehead fish entered the United States when aquarium owners discarded their unwanted exotic captive species into local waterways. The fish is also an important food source in other countries and could have been intentionally released into waterways to create a local food source for fisherman here in the United States.

12. Mute swan • The swans were first brought to the United States and used in zoos and private estates because of their flashy appearance. A small number of birds escaped into the wild in New Jersey (1916) and New York (1919) and successfully created wild breeding populations. The birds then expanded into Rhode Island in the 1920s and are now found from southern Ontario, Canada to North Carolina. The release in the 1910s started with a wild population of about 500 birds. The population of mute swans in New York has increased in size to about 3000 birds. • The swans are capable of reproducing between the ages of two and five years old. They build large nests (4 – 5 feet in diameter) in March or April. Mute swans produce on average 6 eggs per clutch, but could produce as many as 11 per clutch. The eggs hatch in early June, approximately 35 days after being laid.

13. Spiny Waterflea • This predatory caducean zooplankter, commonly known as the spiny water flea formerly identified as Bythotrephes cederstroemi, is a crustacean (a relative of crayfish and shrimp). A native of the Ponto-Caspian region of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, Bythotrephes was first found in North America in December 1984 in Lake Huron.

14. Starling The European starling Sterns vulgaris is native to Europe and then was introduced into other countries around the world including North America. European starlings have a glossy black appearance and are commonly found in large flocks whose flying is synchronized. About 100 starlings were first introduced by Shakespeare enthusiasts in 1890 in Central Park, New York and are now one of the most abundant birds in North America with a population of approximately 200 million. They are found across the entire United States and compete with native species as well as destroy crops.

15. Asian Longhorned Beetle The Asian longhorned beetle have been introduced into the U.S. on wood pallets and wood packing material in cargo shipments from Asia. Asian longhornedbeetle will kill all kinds of through wood varietysof hardwood species, most notibly maples, elm, horsechestnut, willow, sycamore and birch. ALB boring phsycially weakens the trees and disrupts sap flow. Branches with boring damage are more likely to break off, creating a public saftey hazard.