Question

1. Research one of the invasive species from the list below (or any other invasive species).

• Zebra mussel
• Cane toad
• Asian carp
• Kudzu wine
• Water hyacinth
• European starling
• European rabbit (invasive in Australia)
• Gypsy moth
• Lionfish
• Burmese python

2. Describe the species, upload a picture, and answer the following questions: where does it originate? where is it invasive? how did it become invasive? what damage does it cause? and how could it be controlled? Please cite sources

Answer 1

1) WATER HYACINTH - we will research on water hyacinth

2)PICTURE -

i) ORIGIN -it is a native to tropical and subtropical regions of south america, it is an aquatic plant which is perennial and free floating

ii)INVASIVE- originating from south america, water hyacinth have reached a zenith level in almost all of the continents including north america, australia, europe, asia. in subtropical countries like india and bangladesh, pakistan, water hyacinth is a real cause of destruction

iii) HOW INVASIVE -the water hyacinth has one of the beautiful flower one can ever see, and because of their flower beauty, the water hyacinth was an attracction to most of the people around , and everyone wanted the flower in their native place, though less they were aware at that time that this flower may cause a havoc and can disturb a water body ecosystem completely, and this is how it was introduce in every region around the world and later the defects were revealed

iv) WHY INVASIVE (damage) -water hyacinth spreads over the whole water body, as it is free floating and absorb the whole of the oxygen of the water body in which it is growing making it difficult for the aquatic life to sustain, as decrease in oxygen level and an increase in the carbon dioxide level will make the water body toxic to live, and along with this the water hyacinth also bans the sunlight to enter into the water body and makes it difficiult for the underwater flora to sustain and also species which does require sunlight.these are few of the bad effects of water hyacinth, also the region where it does it grow, it competes for the resources and does not let any other species to grow nearby, if one have visited or seen this invasie speices in real, one would notice that no other speices grows nearby and that is why it is called as invasive

v) CONTROL -well, to overcome this, there are no chemical methods, as chemicals may affect the living biotic life of the water body, the only way by which it can be removed is through mechanical efforts and manual removing. there are no such other mehtods being prescribed to overcome this havoc,

below is a link given where as much as information can be accessed for the water hyacinth in a presentation form

https://www.slideshare.net/PlantasInvasoras/aquatic-invasive-plants-water-hyacinth-eichhornia-crassipes