Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Ecosystem and Biodiversity Impacted by Invasive Insects

In a recent article published by sciencedaily.com there has been an increase of the non-native Harlequin Ladybug in Britain, Belgium, and Switzerland. Its presence has greatly harmed the population of the native Ladybird in these areas. The effects of these invasive species are causing changes in biodiversity and have become a threat to the ecosystem. These Harlequins outmatch the native ladybugs in predatory elements and in competition, leaving the natives with few or no resources for survival.

Studies show that invasive species are one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss and declination of different species. The Harlequin Ladybug has mostly impacted the 2-spotted Ladybug by taking away shared resource, aphids. Aphids are types of plant lice and the most known are the green, black, and white flies. They are herbivores, thus they feed on plants obviously.

The effects the Harlequins can bring are by depleting a resource (aphids) that eats certain plants to keep the ecosystem in balance. The Harlequin's fierce competition is also a very strong factor leading to high reproduction rates. These imbalances cause researchers to investigate any decline in any species by this invasion and hope no devastation will occur.

Reference Links:

Science Daily

Wikipedia

Posted by Khoa Chu (1)

4 comments:

  1. Interesting post. I was just wondering what about the Harlequin Ladybug makes it a better at "predatory elements and competition"? Are they bigger, faster, reproduce faster etc.?

    Posted by Michael Thomas

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    Replies
    1. Yes the Harlequin Ladybug is overall faster than the native ladybugs when it comes to collecting food due to their vast numbers. With their vast numbers they are able collect more and more resources leaving none for the native Ladybugs.

      Posted by Khoa Chu

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  2. A species being introduced by humans to a new environment is never a good idea. There are always too many factors to consider, and the risk of the invasive species interfering with the ecosystem is not worth it. I wonder who thought it would be a good idea to introduce these new species, what reasoning could there be for bringing ladybugs to an area already populated by them?

    Rhys Ursuliak

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    Replies
    1. For ladybugs all it takes is a wide and open niche for them to invade. These Harlequin ladybugs are known to spread very quickly for resources and any competition only dulls down the invasion not stop it.

      Posted by Khoa Chu

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