I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog, for I have enjoyed where the idea of invasive alien species (IAS) has taken me. From the research carried out for this blog, it is possible to see that invasive alien species are a major threat to endemic, specialised species. This is due to the pathways by which invasive species invade and become established having changed and been manipulated over time, where natural spread has been replaced as the dominant pathway by accidental and deliberate introductions. The reasons for this including scientific experiments and techniques employed to enhance agriculture, or because colonisers of new lands felt homesick and wanted to bring a part of home to the new land. Therefore, the threat posed by IAS has moved from a naturally occurring phenomenon to one that is highly influenced by anthropogenic activities, with increasing impact as trade routes have increased and connectivity between countries and areas has developed.
It is through the characteristics of invasive alien species that make them such a threat to biodiversity and pose the threat of extinction to endemic species, particularly those found on islands. Their generalised requirements enable them to outcompete local species, as is the case with the Signal and the European Crayfish, replacing the original species in their ecological niche.
Through my research I have also tried to discuss the role of humans as invasive species, and how over history, we have posed a threat to ourselves, particularly with respect to the spread of disease. It is also important to consider ourselves as part of nature, and not necessarily a steward of it, although at present we may be assuming this role due to our knowledge, and perhaps guilt, of our impact on the environment. What is crucial is that through our activities, consider ourselves as invasive species, we have had a direct impact on species extinctions throughout history, but this has never been more prevalent than it has currently. Our increased industrialisation and the global coverage of our species is having detrimental effects on global populations of other species, be they aquatic or terrestrial. It is therefore important to mitigate our impacts and, with respect to invasive species, this can be done by increased monitoring of pathways, implement rules and regulations to reduce the likelihood of invasions, learn from our mistakes to put in place better strategies in the future to protect against them and at the same time, further our knowledge on potential impacts of scientific experiments, so we do not have another case such as myxomatosis.
What role do IAS play in the future? This cannot be predicted for the impact of climate change and global warming on regions is not entirely clear and therefore predicting which species will become invasive, which is already difficult to determine currently, is a near impossible task.
It is therefore important to understand that anthropogenic activities have been and are directly influencing the ecology of the planet, of which our role with invasive species plays but a contributory role, leading to increased extinctions of species, which is why it is considered we are in the 6th mass extinction event in the planet’s history (Barnowski, 2011).
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