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Eradication of invasive species- what would it take?

2,510 Views | 20 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by Brazos1865
TarponChaser
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Flipping channels this AM and came across a show where these guys are hunting invasive snakes and lizards in the Everglades. They catch an anaconda but there's no bounty in them like pythons, etc?

Got me wondering, what would it take to eradicate invasive species like these? Same question for hogs. I think things like zebra mussels, Asian carp, an aquatic plants are impossible to eradicate though.
malenurse
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AG
You mean like, Californians?
Build It
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Maybe impossible. Many of our bayous in Houston are clogged with invasive water hyacinth. We've been fighting it for well over 30 years. It's survived hurricanes, poisonings, labor intensive manual removal. Just think what it would be if they weren't practicing removal techniques all these years.
TarponChaser
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Build It said:

Maybe impossible. Many of our bayous in Houston are clogged with invasive water hyacinth. We've been fighting it for well over 30 years. It's survived hurricanes, poisonings, labor intensive manual removal. Just think whet it would be if they weren't practicing removal techniques all these years.


Yeah, I think stuff like water hyacinth and hydrilla is likely impossible to get rid of. Same for giant salvinia.

But what about a bounty on pliecos and tilapia? More aggressive efforts and fewer restrictions on snakes in the Everglades? Stuff like that.
Build It
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AG
Interesting thing about Hydrilla, we owned a cabin on Lake Murvaul for 40 years. Always had lots of hydrylla and awesome bass fishing. In one year it was all gone and stayed gone for years. Still don't know if it's returned.
Brazos1865
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The same thing happened to hydrilla on Gibbons Creek, over a few years it just disappeared. As far as I know, there was no big effort made to rid it from the lake.

Hydrilla is mostly gone from Fayette County, but there, I think it there was an effort with drawdowns and herbicides.

Does anyone else remember TPWD stocking Tilapia as forage fish for bass? Seems they don't want to admit it today, but they did it in the 70s or 80s in cooling lakes.
GottaRide
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S
Anything new on fire ants or have we just given up?
TarponChaser
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Brazos1865 said:

The same thing happened to hydrilla on Gibbons Creek, over a few years it just disappeared. As far as I know, there was no big effort made to rid it from the lake.

Hydrilla is mostly gone from Fayette County, but there, I think it there was an effort with drawdowns and herbicides.

Does anyone else remember TPWD stocking Tilapia as forage fish for bass? Seems they don't want to admit it today, but they did it in the 70s or 80s in cooling lakes.


Yeah, lots of exotics and technically invasive species have been stocked on purpose over history. Some good, some not.

Rainbow and brown trout are not actually native in most of the USA. Pheasant aren't native. And neither are Hungarian partridge. Not sure about chukars. And of course there's all the exotic deer/antelope/sheep/goats/whatever in Texas, most of which are considered good. Feral pigs obviously aren't. Feral horses are another one of dubious quality.
devilriverag72
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Ask a TPWD BIOLOGIST about the small mouth fishery that is the Devils river. They will tell you how wonderful it is and all of the studies that have been done proves their point. Ask them to see the study that was done on the river prior to the introduction of small mouth bass and lo and behold they can't find one. You can catch a lot of non native small mouths but the native species has definitely been hurt. Very few large mouths and the channel cat population is no where near where it once was. River now over populated with carp and needle nose gar. they messed with mother nature and damaged a beautiful river. To top the stupidity they now have a catch and release on smallmouths.
rick rylander
Ayto Siks
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Unfortunately, I think south Florida is a lost cause for invasive reptiles, amphibians, and fish. There's just too much area that is tough to navigate. And a lot of the waterways are connected in the summer.

I could probably go catch 100 oscars and cichlids before finding a bluegill, and my neighborhood is overrun with invasive lizards and cuban tree frogs.

One thing I've wondered is why the invasive species are so much more hardy than the natives.
JeremiahJohnson
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I sell chemicals for Zebra Muscles. We treat a lot of power and chemical plant discharges. Does well, but have not targeted boat ramps and private lakes where people transfer them from lakes and rivers by their boats.
EskimoJoe
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GottaRide said:

Anything new on fire ants or have we just given up?


arm every kid with a magnifying glass and change the password on the wifi in the house?
Fishin Texas Aggie 05
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We need to arm jr high kids with slingshots, pellet guns, and bow fishing bows.

Send them out once a week and let them kill everyone they can find.

Hell I'd love to go around shooting iguanas and what not. I'm sure CB shorts in my Winchester 62 would be a hoot
ME92
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I read a paper about eradicating feral pigs on one of the Channel Islands. I think it was this one.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://christie-boser.squarespace.com/s/0-1.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjFgq7U_L7oAhUFIDQIHSfvBkAQFjANegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1UwhBUClQAXAQLXHNfE14T
texan12
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Brazos1865 said:

The same thing happened to hydrilla on Gibbons Creek, over a few years it just disappeared. As far as I know, there was no big effort made to rid it from the lake.

Hydrilla is mostly gone from Fayette County, but there, I think it there was an effort with drawdowns and herbicides.

Does anyone else remember TPWD stocking Tilapia as forage fish for bass? Seems they don't want to admit it today, but they did it in the 70s or 80s in cooling lakes.


Is this how tilapia ended up in the nueces river?
Bradley.Kohr.II
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So, my hunch is, habitat restoration.

Based on nothing more than the idea that the native species best fills the niche, if the niche is restored.

Some of that, for rivers, might be more otters, beavers, turtles, etc coming back...
Bradley.Kohr.II
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And, maybe eradicating feral cats, to help bird populations, and more controlled burning.
Funky Winkerbean
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A pathogen selective to the target species is the only way IMO. That pathogen must also be able to thrive in the same environment without constant reintroduction. I also think that we are looking at it wrong. An "invasive " species is our designation for things that disrupt our "normal". Nature is not static yet when it effects humans we inherently try to control it. IMO life is too powerful.
It is so easy to be wrong—and to persist in being wrong—when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Thomas Sowell
Apache
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Quote:

One thing I've wondered is why the invasive species are so much more hardy than the natives

They did not co-evolve & thus the natives are not equipped to deal with with them.

Interestingly, some of our North American animals are causing havoc overseas. (I've read about the damage raccoons do, as well as Bullfrogs & Bluegills in other areas)

In Florida, a couple of hard freezes would do some significant damage to the lizard population.
Pythons will probably need to be controlled with a broad spectrum of measures. They are using the "Judas" method currently & having success, but the area is so big & pythons are so established they'll never get rid of all of them.
Quote:

A 2011 study that looked at small mammal populations in Everglades National Park found declines of between 87 and 99 percent for raccoon, opossums, white-tailed deer and bobcats. The study, which included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, said no rabbits or foxes were seen in park surveys between 2003 and 2011.



Burrus86
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AG
In before "kill it with fire."
Spore Ag
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There have been very successful rodent eradication programs in S. Georgia. Rats have been there since Captain Cook landed there. Extremely expensive but dramatic increases in the indigenous bird population such as pippets and some albitrous.

Saw the project starting on Gough island off Tristan de Cunha
Brazos1865
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I'm not sure about the Nueces. If it's fed by a river or creek connected to a power plant lake, maybe.

Oops, meant to reply to texan12...
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