Alien/ Invasive Species Competition

The criteria I chose for the invasive species were: the population, life span, growth rate, environment damage and natural enemies. I chose these criteria because they are the major points that could be used to determine which invasive specie is the 'worst.' If the specie has a large population with a big life span and a fast growth rate and damages the environment heavily with having least number of natural enemies, one could conclude that this specie would be the worst as it can be called 'invincible' specie. The following are the 5 species I chose that I thought would be the worst five. The following are not in the rated format but rather in a list format which are judged by the criteria followed by the link of information accessed from. 

1. Acacia melanoxylon (tree)

Population N/A

Life Span: 15-50 years          

Growth Rate Very Fast

Environment Damage Replaces native non-tree vegetation such as grassland and shrubland. This weed affects agricultural crops, natural habitats and ecosystems. 700 cattle were killed by a poisonous weed overnight.

Natural Enemies Dicranosterna semipunctata (tortoise beetle)

http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=197&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN

2. Acacia saligna (tree)

Population  N/A

Life Span  30-40 years

Growth Rate High. Annual seed production is about 10 000 seeds per 1 square metre of canopy cover.

Environment Damage  Seed are produced in large numbers and can survive fire, making it a competitive tree for native species.

Natural Enemies Coccidae (insects)

http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=1590&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN

3.  Solenopsis invicta (insect)

Population 200,000-300,000 in a mature RIFA colony.

Life Span Depends on size: Minor workers may live 30 to 60 days, media workers 60 to 90 days, major workers 90 to 180 days, and queens may live two to six years.

Growth Rate  The average number of workers ants in a mature RIFA colony is 200,000-300,000 individuals and with no natural predator makes the growth rate high.

Environment Damage  Causes severe, irreparable damages to economy/ecology as it has great damages which includes total crop losses(soyabean, citrus, corn), nursery infestations, livestock depletion and harm to human health (stings/allergic reactions).

Natural Enemies Two pathogens are: a protozoa Thelohania solenopsae and a fungus Beauveria bassiana

http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=77&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN

4. Aedes albopictus (insect)

Population N/A

Life Span Laboratory studies showed that male and female Aedes mosquito survive an average of 20 to 30 days.

Growth Rate In high temperatures, there were high rates of population increase.

Environment Damage Aggressive biter that carries diseases which are harmful to humans, e.g. West Nile virus, yellow fever and dengue fever

Natural Enemies Other mosquito larvae, flatworms, swimming beetles, fungi, ciliates, paramecia, protozoans which act as parasites, predatory copepods and spiders are natural enemies to Asian tiger mosquitoes.

http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=109&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN

5. Salvinia molesta (aquatic plant, herb)

Population N/A

Life Span N/A

Growth Rate  High. Reproduction can occur very quickly.

Environment Damage Pervasive aquatic fern that can greatly alter aquatic ecosystems  which forms very thick surface mats and completely blocks light and oxygen penetration and impedes (obstruct) water flow, clogs water conveyance, and eliminates all other plant/fish species.

Natural Enemies None

http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=569&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN

The process to eliminate the first three species is very easy/simple. This is because the species with many natural enemies and/or slow growth rate and/or less environmental damage could be easily eliminated as they are least likely to be the 'worst' invasive specie. The first ones I would eliminate would be Aedes albopictus, Acacia melanoxylon, Acacia saligna, Salvinia molesta because these are the organisms that have the most natural enemies and are not very harmful to the environment. The specie that would be the most competitive for the competition would be the last or Solenopsis invicta because it has no natural predators and damages the environment heavily and reproduciton ocurs very fast. It damages and influences our daily life because RIFAs are attractive to electrical equipment. Air conditioners even traffic lights short out. Today, this world is a technological world which depends heavily on electricity, but if we find these RIFAs around the globe then most likely today's generation will be affected badly. 

Red Meat should not be consumed

Red Meat

White Meat

            Vs.

Meat can be divided into two major groups which are red meat and white meat. Examples of red meat would be cow, horse while white meat would be chicken, rabbits, etc. There should be a decrease in the number of red meat consumption, but other white meat like chicken, rabbit can be consumed. Red meat such as cows provides us very helpful dairy products such as milk which produce yoghurt and many other goods. Cows also give birth to more cows which continue to increase amount of milk or on the other hand bulls help in agricultural areas in poor states where farmers can’t afford machines. Also, according to my religion, Hinduism, cows are sacred and cow dung can be use as natural antiseptic and in many more ways. Also, cow urine is an excellent germicide and kills variety of germs. All diseases that are caused by germs are thereby destroyed. The American Institute for Cancer Research and World Cancer Research Fund stated in their report "Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective" that there is "convincing" evidence that red meat intake increases the risk for colorectal cancer, and that there is "suggestive" evidence that it increases the risk of oesophageal, lung, pancreatic and endometrial cancer. Red meat intake has been associated with an increased risk (19-51%) of type II diabetes. Interventions in which red meat is removed from the diet can lower albuminuria levels (protein that is used for correct distribution of fluids). Replacing red meat with a low protein or chicken diet can improve glomerular filtration rate. Red meat consumption is associated with cardiovascular diseases, possibly because of its high content of saturated fat which raises blood cholesterol which can lead to these heart diseases. The best way to reduce health disorders is to not consume red meat but rather white meat which is much safer. The deaths of men and women in Brazil are mostly due to cardiovascular diseases and Brazil is one of the most red meat consuming countries. 

Is the Indian Embassy field biologically diverse

Using the two main factors taken into account when measuring diversity (richness and evenness) I concluded that I think that the Indian Embassy field is a biologically diverse field. This is so because there is a large number and a variety of plants (species) in the area. Richness is the number of species per sample and evenness is a measure of the relative large quantity of the different species. When I compared the plants in the entire class, we had many similar plants with a variety even though the plants were taken from different locations of the field. The field is rich and has evenness, the plants are approximately evenly distributed among the field based on all the samples we had. 

When I compared the data collected by all the Biology classes we found that there were 56 types of species with 193 units of the different types. Using the Simpson's index equation,

Simpson's index equation

=  3524  = 0.095 (0.095 is close to 0 rather than 1, because the lower the value, 

    37056                    the higher the diversity therefore, the field is diverse.)


Also for further proof, we can use the Simpson's Index of diversity equation:

Simpson's index of diversity equation

= 1 - 0.095 = 0.905 (0.905 is closer to 1 rather than 0, this shows that the field is diverse because the greater the value, the higher the rate of diversity.)