Invasives: The High Cost of Indifference

Authors

Mark Pfost
Kurt C. VerCauteren, USDA-APHIS-Wildlife ServicesFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2012

Citation

Pfost, M., and K. VerCauteren. 2012. Invasive species: the high cost of indifference. The Wildlife Professional 6:7

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

At one time, wildlife professionals may have been blissfully ignorant about invasive species, classifying “plants” as lawn grass, flowers, trees, or weeds, and putting animals into two groups: species with bag limits and everything else. But those days of ignorance are long past. We see how invasives threaten local, even global, ecosystems, and we need to help create greater awareness about the scope of the problem.

Wildlife professionals must not only prepare to deal with how seven billion people, climate change, and habitat loss will affect native species and habitats, but also how those species and habitats will be affected by a host of invasive plants, animals, and pathogens. While we try to sort out the science, we must also lead by educating a public that may be indifferent.