COM 1034.001 2004-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress) Page 2 of 6 (colonization without human assistance) of the Hawaiian islands by new plant or animal species, which have been on the order of thousands of years. (2) The resulting evolution in isolation over time has often led to the generation of species entirely unique to particular islands and found nowhere else, and such isolation also often meant the absence of natural predatory or competitive species. (3) The natural geographic isolation of the Hawaiian islands is no match for the advancement of human activities, including transportation and global commerce, and native biota and ecosystems are being overwhelmed by the introduction and establishment of non-native plant and animal species and plant and animal diseases associated with such species. (4) More than 5,000 species of non-native plants and animals have become established in the Hawaiian islands in the past 200 years, which represents a rate of successful colonization of new species every 18 days. (5) Although not all new species introductions alter ecosystem function and structure, damage agriculture, or cause human health or other safety hazards, the introduction of invasive species to the Hawaiian islands has resulted in the extinction of native species, the destruction of native forests, and the spread of disease and costs the State of Hawaii millions of dollars in crop losses. (6) For example, Miconia calvescens, an aggressive weedy tree from South America, has established itself in Hawaii and threatens Hawaii's tropical forests and the watersheds those forests support, and the resulting decreased water infiltration in just two of Hawaii's priority watersheds could amount to additional water costs of $13 million annually. (7) Just one new invasive species, such as the the brown tree snake, could change the very character of the Hawaiian islands. In addition to its devastating impacts on fragile native bird populations, the venomous brown tree snake poses a public health risk because it bites people and pets, threatens poultry farms because it feeds on chickens and eggs, and presents the risk of dangerous and costly power outages because it climbs electrical lines causing short circuits in power supply. (8) Although Congress responded to the danger of the brown tree snake by enacting the Brown Tree Snake Control and Eradication Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-384; 7 U.S.C. 8501 et seq.), many more invasive species, including fire ants and West Nile Virus, threaten to invade http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?cI09:./temp/-cI09cS87Ey 9/7/2006