Discussion » Questions » Outside the Mug » Do you have any invasive animal/plant species where you live?

Do you have any invasive animal/plant species where you live?

Zebra mussels. They have actually cleaned up the western basin of Lake Erie.

Posted - October 3, 2020

Responses


  • 7404
    Wild Parsnip is a big problem in my area. The sap of the plant contains chemicals that can irritate skin and eyes and cause severe burning and blistering on affected skin when it is exposed to the sun. If near it you can get blisters that cause permanent scarring. I’m more afraid of it than the wolves and coyotes. 
      October 3, 2020 6:38 PM MDT
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  • 44592
    I have heard of it, but the root is still edible. Odd, that.
      October 3, 2020 6:44 PM MDT
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  • 7404
    I wasn’t aware the root  is edible and I’m not going near the plant to find out lol. I have some on my property and I plan not to deal with it. it will be someone else’s problem soon enough. 
      October 3, 2020 6:49 PM MDT
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  • 53498

     

      Wait a minute, no one has seen nor heard from the tree surgeon in months, and now you’re going to entrap some poor, unsuspecting gardener or landscaper?  Have you no shame, Woman?

      October 3, 2020 6:51 PM MDT
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  • 7404
    Lol, I’m trading in living in the middle of nowhere for the city life soon. I have no use for tree surgeons anymore. I’ll have to fall for an Uber driver or something next. 
      October 3, 2020 6:54 PM MDT
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  • 53498

     

      So what has happened to all those now missing men you lured into your property with your womanly charms?

    ~

      October 3, 2020 6:56 PM MDT
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  • 7404
    That’s between me and the trees. 
      October 3, 2020 6:58 PM MDT
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  • 53498

     

     Just because you were smiling while you buried them doesn’t mean it’s not a crime, Jaimie. I’m calling the RCMP!



      October 3, 2020 9:44 PM MDT
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  • 53498

     

      A lot of Vegemite-eaters, mayo-eaters, and especially avocado/guacamole-eaters invade my space all the time. Does that count?

    :(

      October 3, 2020 6:46 PM MDT
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  • 44592
    To them, you are the invasive species.
      October 3, 2020 6:51 PM MDT
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  • 10984
    Eurasian watermilfoil

      October 3, 2020 7:05 PM MDT
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  • 1817
    prob a lot but off the top of my head fresh water goby 
      October 3, 2020 7:46 PM MDT
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  • 44592
    Worm thieves. We threw them to the herons and gulls lurking about.
      October 8, 2020 2:10 PM MDT
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  • 10052
    Yes, many.

    European humans are by far the worst. 

    :)
      October 3, 2020 8:05 PM MDT
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  • 7789
    Yea, but they are just other people.
      October 3, 2020 9:49 PM MDT
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  • 10617
    Yes, Scotch Broom.  A very hardy and extremely flammable plant that's hard to eradicate. 
      October 3, 2020 10:16 PM MDT
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  • 17584
    There are species of fish that here are collectively called trash fish.  Eels are one such species.
      October 3, 2020 10:24 PM MDT
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  • 44592
    But are they invasive?
      October 8, 2020 2:15 PM MDT
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  • 17584
    Yes.  Pythons are invading the Everglades too, as well as crocodiles.....all alligators are crocodiles but not all crocodiles are alligators.....the arrival of the Nile Crocodile is very bad news for Florida.  It is called the man-eating crocodile...very aggressive. This post was edited by Thriftymaid at October 8, 2020 5:02 PM MDT
      October 8, 2020 4:49 PM MDT
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  • 44592
    There is also an indigenous species called the American Crocodile. It grows as large as a Nile. Perhaps that is what you are referring to.
      October 8, 2020 5:06 PM MDT
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  • 17584
    No.  I'm referring to the Nile Crocodile, like I said. 
      October 8, 2020 5:45 PM MDT
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  • 44592
    Who would bring those over here? Our crocs could kick their a**es.
      October 8, 2020 5:47 PM MDT
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  • 4624
    The Indian Minor bird is known here as an avian rat; it is aggressive and tends to outcompete the native birds who occupy the same ecological niche.
    Elsewhere in Australia, feral pigs, goats, deer, horses, camels, cats, rats, mice, foxes and rabbits do massive damage to native habitats.

    The plant weeds are even more of a problem, coming in all kinds. Some threaten native ecologies because they're poisonous or destructive in other ways. Some threaten agriculture, others, gardens.

    Lantana is one of our worst. All across the top end it is destroying the native rainforests.

    Lantana 

     

    When I first saw you look at me, I had no doubt

    that you loved my tutu skirts, flaring, swirling out,

    my red, orange, yellow, my soft or flaming pinks,

    my long, arched stems, that step from side to side,

    wild hip twists in wind whistled kinks,

    as my loins astride your legs let the rhythms ride. 

    Strong, spicy musk was my invitation 

    to join in propagation.

    What a partner you turned out to be

    when, from South America, you first smuggled me.

     

    Oh, you could keep me tamed in cooler, temperate climes;

    you could prune me, hedge me, and plait me into vines.

    But I’m the hot lady — whom only frosts can kill.

    By my sweet black berries, my colonial will

    calls every Fairy-Wren

    to spread my seeds where ere she comes to sit

    and nurture them with sweetly fertile shit.

    So here in hotter, wetter climates, I am queen.

    Though I wear flamboyant flowers, seductive as Lambada,

    if you eat my leaves   you’ll get runny, poopy scours,

    and you’ll be puking sick for endless hours.

    I will taunt you — be your bane — for I have no enemies,

    no real foe among your arsenal  natural remedies.

    I am the fragrant honey pot, the femme fatale Lantana,

    the comely, fecund, weedy lady 

    who claims your forests shady.

    I will never rest ’til I have won.

    © Manna Hart, Tyalgum, 7.7.19

      October 3, 2020 11:56 PM MDT
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  • 16741
    Oleander and broom rape are almost as bad. Salvation Jane is worse - known locally as "Patterson's Curse", the purple-flowered weed is everywhere, completely dominating the landscape in some places. Toxic to livestock and wildlife.
      October 4, 2020 5:29 AM MDT
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