Invasive Species and Colonization - Alese Cowardin

 Human actions have always affected the environment around us, whether it is issues like climate change and industrialization or even just the spreading of invasive species. We often forget that colonization of new places also introduces new species to that environment, and we have seen the effects of this trend all throughout history. The founding of America for example, introduced invasive species such as horses and cattle as well as the European starling and even peaches. These affected the native species to a huge extent, an effect that was worsened as a result of overharvesting the native species. Exotic trade has also enhanced this introduction of invasives, as has the slow change of the global environment which has reduced the areas in which some native species can survive. Actions such as colonization not only transport new species into an environment, but it also leads to a development of that environment that produces instability for many of the native species living there. An example of the far reaching consequences of this is found in how native species in the northeast of the United States have less habitat in which they can survive due to urban development as well as global warming (a result of industrialization). While it is difficult to reverse the effects of invasive species on an environment they have already been introduced to, history should at least remind us to be more careful in how our anthropogenic actions can harm the environment surrounding us.

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