Examples of invasives...
To give a couple of examples of large impacts of invasives, Peter Vitousek's work in the volcano regions of Hawaii has shown how the normal succession of what goes on there has been totally disrupted through the importation of the shrub Myrica, from the Canary Islands, which is a nitrogen fixer. There was no nitrogen fixer in that system previously. So it has changed the whole succession pattern. Another example of a large and profound ecosystem impact is the runderpest virus which was introduced into Africa and swept through the land, devastating the cattle and some of the wild animals, the wildebeest, but not the zebra. This event, so it is told, made it possible for the colonization of Africa by Europeans. After the runderpest was brought under control and the wildebeest recovered, there were large consequences on the whole ecosystem structure and function.
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Narrative Index
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