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Science Friday > Archives > 1999 > February > February 5, 1999:

Hour Two: Invasive Species

This week, President Clinton created an interagency council to study the problem of invasive species and come up with a plan to "defend against these aggressive predators and pests." The President's new budget also contains an additional $29 million to help pay for control efforts and for rehabilitating affected habitats.

If you've ever had a guest that just drops by without asking, stays forever, and eats everything in the fridge, then you can probably relate to the problem of invasive species. There are thousands of plants, animals, and microbes in the U.S. today that weren't originally here -- and some of them are overstaying their welcome. Without the predators that usually keep their numbers in check, some of these invasive species are muscling native species out of limited habitats, gobbling up more than their share of limited resources, and spreading and spreading and spreading. Brown tree snakes have eaten many of Guam's native birds and lizards since they came to the island just after World War II. Zebra mussels, carried along by cargo ships, coat the floor of the Great Lakes like a rug. In the early 1880s, people introduced purple loosestrife to the U.S. as an ornamental plant and as a medicinal herb - now it flourishes in wetlands in 48 states, crowding out native species. Asian clams, feral pigs, most city rats, and the infamous kudzu are all non-native species that have taken off in the Americas. One recent study by Cornell University ecologists estimates that the problem is costing the U.S. over a hundred and twenty billion dollars annually. Is the problem really that bad? And if so, what can we do about? Join us for this hour of Science Friday to find out. (at right: Purple Loosestrife is ravaging wetlands in over 48 states. Cornell University scientist Bernd Blossey is studying ways to control the weedy pest using insects.)

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Guests:
Bruce Babbitt
Secretary of the Interior
U.S. Department of the Interior
Washington, DC

Isi Siddiqui
Deputy Under Secretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, DC

Bernd Blossey
Director, Biological Control of Non-indigenous Plant Species Program
Department of Natural Resources
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY

Robert Devine
Author, "Alien Invasion: America's Battle with Non-native Animals and Plants" (National Geographic)
Corvallis, OR

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Alien Invasion : America's Battle with Non-native Animals and Plants" by Robert Devine. National Geographic Press, 1998.

Related Links:

Invasive Species Home Page

USDA's APHIS Web

Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in North America

 

BLM's Invasive Weeds
SciFri: January 23, 1998, Hour One, Second Half: Alien Species Invade San Francisco Bay

 

This segment produced by:
Charles Bergquist
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist