Monday, February 27, 2012
Invasive Plants
Many native Japanese plants are extremely popular in American landscaping (examples are the Japanese maple, honeysuckle, and barberry). However, these plants - particularly the last two mentioned - are highly invasive and push out native vegetation. Should the sale of these plants be banned? Defend your position.
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I believe that the sale of these plants should be banned. One reason why they should be banned is because they are highly invasive. These invasive plants are driving out the native plants we want in the ecosystem. Another reasing being because maybe these invasive plants bring along an invasive species. The invasive species that comes along with this plant can be harmful to the other species in the environment.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the sale plants should be banned, but regulated. We have to worry about both humans and animals and nature when it comes down to it. The nutrients for some of these plants,such as the barberry and honeysuckle, can both be used as a food source and medicine remedy. Also a good amount of these plants can help stimulate the economy by selling the berries and medicine. But we have to also make sure that there should not be an abundance of these foreign plants because they do tend to hurt the ecosystem here. Seeing that New Jersey is arguably the "Garden State," we have a diverse plant life in this state. Therefore in order to have divers plants we need to make sure that there is not a lot of invasive plants, but we need to have enough to help advance and maintain the human race.
ReplyDeleteI take both sides because invasive plants have their benefits as well as their downfalls. An invasive plant, such as the Japanese barberry, are visually appealing to people, which means many people will buy them. Also, having some invasive plants here and there also make the population of plant life more diverse. However, they are invasive and they do harm to other native plants around them. people should not overpopulate an area with these invasive species so people can enjoy the visual image these plants have to offer and so we can grow our native plants as well.
ReplyDeleteI stand in between both sides of this argument. I think that these invasive species should be banned because they are harmful to certain species. Like certain berries, they may look very appetizing; however to us they are very poisonous. However on the flip side of the argument they can be very healthy and non-hazardous to other animals like birds and squirrels. Then some of these species are also good used for remedies. Come to find out Japanese Knotweed is used to help treat Lyme disease. Some are also tasty to humans I know for a fact that Honey Suckle taste great! So what it comes down to is which species is more harmful than the other.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I really don’t see a problem. Yes I know that these plants are harming to the native plants, but it really doesn’t bother me. I see it as being able to divers our plants like human population should be. Plants shouldn’t be seen as immigrants to this country so maybe we should accept them. In my opinion these plants are treated like the way undocumented people of this country are being treated. In other word we should get rid of them before they cause even much greater harm. Maybe we should accept it, by that, learn about its culture and origin. Maybe learn about other plants around the world that maybe the answers in curing many diseases. By doing this we must first accept these plants because we will never know if they will be helpful in the future. Let’s allow these plants to show its beauty, its diversity, and maybe it’s curing to make our state shine.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it should not be banned, but have retrictions. Some retrictions should be like having a certain, controlled amount of annual invasive species being sold. Another one, invasive species should be planted in areas where they will have less of a negative impact on the environment. Lastly, when planted, owners should control the growth and reproduction so the invasive species will not over populate.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that the sales of these exotic plants should be banned. Although they are quite popular, they happen to do alot of damage to the other plants grown around them. The fact that these plants are highly invasive means that they can and will take out a huge variety of the plants that are native to their natural area and will continue to keep on growing if this issue gets out of control. This kind of action comes with a serious price that affects the ecosystem greatly and still, people don't seem to find any harm being done. It is our greed and our lack of understanding in which is doing some serious damage to the ecosystem around us and if this action continues on, we may be in for something far worst.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I think that they should be banned because if they are harming the ecosystem and the native plants, then its not a good reason to sale them. This will cause more problems to the environment by having native plants become extinct and by native plants becoming extinct, many animals that depend on those specific plants for a food resource will suffer. Which as a result it will cause more problems to fix.
ReplyDeleteFirst to point out, invasive species and or plants are destructive opportunist that take advantage of the things we need in our ecosystem , such as the honeysuckle and barberry against our native vegetation. With this in mind, I think that the sales of these highly invasive plants should be banned because it clearly harms the plants we need.(native) Although , they may be viewed as "harmless", it can still cause a certain change in your health. Like the poison, from the poisonous barberry plant rapidly reproduce, since they are r-selected.
ReplyDeleteI believe that these species should definitely be banned, because altering the environment just for the sake of it never did any good to this planet in the past. These species are invasive, that means that they cause imbalance in the ecosystem. We should not try to play the role of God, because we are rapidly destroying everything around us. People should not be able to introduce new species if they are destructive to the native species, because so many chain reactions can occur in the environment that it is hard to predict the consequences. If we ourselves aren't endangered, we should just let nature do its work.
ReplyDeleteNo the sell of these plants should not be banned, but there should be some limitations on how to grow and sell the invasive plants. Since they are invasive then that means they can be harmful to the other plants around them. So the people selling these plants should grow them in a restricted area and there should be a limited amount of plants they can grow. Doing this can keep the native plants safe and it can also control the invasive plant's reproduction rate. Making sure the plants don't over populate the area.
ReplyDeleteI think that these plants need to be banned because they are hurting our environment and they are highly invasive. This can be harmful to the non native vegetation because they are getting pushed out. My other view on this topic is that the plant should be watched and regulated depending on the effect of the plant.
ReplyDeleteYes those plants should be banned because they disrupt natural Northern American ecosystems. It's important that we do our best to preserve our ecosystem the way it originally was instead of playing God and tempering with the balance of things. Introducing new plant species can have drastic effects in our environment; not only could it drive native species of plant to the brink of extinction it can also lead to the extinction of numerous animal species by reducing the population of the plants they feed on.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't believe that any plants should be banned because they all have a purpose for being there. Although if it is causing lot ls of trouble and interrupting other plants then yes we should reduce the amount there is in that area. Taking the plants away might cause many animals to die out because there's a great chance the plant was a part of the species resources. In conclusion I beileve we shouldn't bad the plants but reduce the amont if needed.
ReplyDeleteI believe that these plants should not be banned because of the biodiversity it creates in the U.S. Even though these plants may be extremely harmful, it is in fact necessary that we must keep it here. Many animals and other life forms may already depend on these plants as resources. To take that away would be wrong.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am in favor of isolating the plants to whereas it doesn't hurt nor harm any people. I would possibly border it or only sell/plant it in certain states.
Yes I believe these plants should be banned because if these plants are in fact invasive this means that most of the vegetation will die out due to the plants growth. So to stop these plants from taking over I suggest stopping this problem at the source. By banning the sale of these plants their will be less invasive plants being grown in the area
ReplyDeleteI fell that we should not ban these invasive plants. Even though these plants cause problems for the native plants in America, I feel they don't hurt us. However if they find ways that these plant effect us in a negative way, I be one of the first people to ban them. Until then, I'm okay with them.
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ReplyDeleteInvasive plants tend to outcompete native species with their ability to spread faster and acquire natural resources such as light and water at the detriment of other plants by shocking them. It is the case of the Japanese honeysuckle, which is causing problem mainly in the West of the united state. I believe that introducing natural predators in their environment will be more beneficial than banning their sale because not only it is used for ornamental purposes but it is used by engineers to protect highways from erosion. All those plants have predators and the main predator of the Honeysuckle is the moth larvae, which is very abundant in the east and thus explains the relative low level oh honeysuckle in the east compared o the west.
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