Some topics come up from time to time and get some attention and then most people seem to stop paying attention. Invasive species is a prime example. Invasive species, for those that may not know, are organisms that are introduced to an area and they damage the ecosystem or they out compete the native species or they disrupt the place to which they have been introduced in some other way. In short, invasive species are extremely successful and have a negative impact.
Some examples of invasive species include European starlings, snakehead fish and fireants. None of those are native to North America, much less our portion of the continent. There are many, many more invasive species though.
I'm including two links. The first is a piece on the invasion of the Asian longhorn beetle in New England. Why include something about a beetle in New England? Because these beetles are likely to invade Arkansas (may already be doing so) and Arkansas is full of trees. We love being the Natural State. These beetles can do a lot of damage to our forests!
The second link is to a pdf file of a top ten list of invasives in Arkansas that was put together last year by the AR Department of Agriculture. When you click the link, you download the pdf file. you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader or another pdf reader to open this file. The Asian longhorn beetle didn't make the top ten, but it is included in the pdf file.
What can you do? If you own land, make sure that you don't have invasive plants growing on it. If you are in an area with invasive animals, follow the laws concerning what you can do to get rid of those animals (some you can kill, others you should just alert the proper authorities about). If you think you have an invasive species on your land (like the Asian longhorn beetle) contact the relevant authorities (could be AR Game & Fish Commission, AR Department of Agriculture, etc. depending on the species you have) for information on what to do about it.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Invasion-of-the-Longhorns.h...
http://www.aragriculture.org/horticulture/InvasiveSpeciesGuide08.pdf
