Thursday, February 28, 2013

Problem of "Introduced Species" in the UK

The Non-native Species Secretariat has responsibility for helping to coordinate the approach to invasive non-native species in Great Britain.  We are responsible to a Programme Board which represents the relevant governments and agencies of England, Scotland and Wales.

What are invasive species?

Animals and plants that have been introduced to a place where they do not naturally occur are known as non-native species. Many of these live happily in the UK without causing a problem but a few become what's called invasive.
Invasive species upset the balance of the ecosystem as they may be bigger, faster growing or more aggressive than the native species. They may also have fewer natural predators to control numbers. The native species are often unable to compete and fairly quickly the invasive species take over.


http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/12/4/1323012542109/Rioting-in-Toxteth-Liverp-007.jpg

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Competition for Resources

While all species compete to survive, invasive species appear to have specific traits or specific combinations of traits that allow them to outcompete native species. In some cases the competition is about rates of growth and reproduction. In other cases species interact with each other more directly.

An introduced species might become invasive if it can out-compete native species for resources, such as nutrients, light, physical space, water or food.

In 1990 Congress enacted IMMACT which gives us this: “under the new provisions; increases in the proportion of immigrants coming from Asia, with a corresponding decrease in the numbers from northern and western Europe”. All one needs to do is look around to see that that’s true.
Add that to all the Government and Business Sponsored Minority Privilege and what do ya get? According to BUSINESS.COM, you get “over 50 percent of all U.S. minority-owned businesses with sales exceeding $1 million are owned by Asian-Americans."
How did that fifty percent Asian ownership happen in what seems to be, so quickly? Once again, according to BUSINESS.COM, Bank of America and its special program called the “Minority and Women Prequalification Program” helps them but they’re far from the only ones.
BUSINESS.COM goes on to mention how Asians can “meet prospective customers in person at one of the regional procurement events sponsored by The US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC).”
Now who supports USPAACC? According to them, just about everybody. One Government Department they mention is The Social Security Administration and I wonder, do they mean this: “Greta is the admissions coordinator in a federally-subsidized senior citizens housing facility in the San Francisco Bay area. She remarks that, when one of her tenants, an immigrant from Taiwan whom we will call Wen, told her that he had just passed his citizenship test, “I was
congratulating and welcoming him, but he laughed and said, ‘Now they can’t take my [welfare] money away.’”
 link

Executive Definition of Invasive Species

As per Executive Order 13112 an "invasive species" is defined as a species that is:
1) non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and
2) whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.
link