1. What are the long term effects of the feral hog population on the East Texas
ID: 169123 • Letter: 1
Question
1. What are the long term effects of the feral hog population on the East Texas ecosystem?
2. How do organisms become classified as an invasive species, rather than just a non-native species?
3. What are the characteristic that the feral hog possess that justify the species being categorized as invasive?
4. Explain why this organism is one of the top priority invasive species in the area? What is its potential for harm to the East Texas ecosystem?
(This is for my AP Biology II class so please help me as soon as possible!!!)
Explanation / Answer
1) A feral animal (from Latin fera, "a wild beast") is an animal living in the wild but descended from domesticated individuals.
As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species.
Ecological impact:
A feral population can have a significant impact on an ecosystem by predation on vulnerable plants or animals, or by competition with indigenous species. Feral plants and animals constitute a significant share of invasive species, and can be a threat to endangered species. However, they may also replace species lost from an ecosystem on initial human arrival to an area, or increase the biodiversity of a human-altered area by being able to survive in it in ways local species cannot.
Economic harm
Feral animals compete with domestic livestock, and may degrade fences, water sources, and vegetation (by overgrazing or introducing seeds of invasive plants). Though hotly disputed, some cite as an example the competition between feral horses and cattle in the western United States. Another example is of goats competing with cattle in Australia, or goats that degrade trees and vegetation in environmentally-stressed regions of Africa. Accidental crossbreeding by feral animals may result in harm to breeding programs of pedigreed animals; their presence may also excite domestic animals and push them to escape. Feral populations can also pass on transmissible infections to domestic herds.
Genetic diversity
Feral populations sometimes preserve or develop characteristics which do not always exist in the fully domesticated equivalent. Therefore, they contribute to domestic biodiversity and often deserve to be preserved, be it in their feral environment or as domestic animals. For example, feral species that are usually subjects of eradication in Australia or New Zealand are currently the subject of study to determine if there is a need for their preservation.
2)
An invasive species is a plant, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location (an introduced species), and which has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.
One study pointed out widely divergent perceptions of the criteria for invasive species among researchers (p. 135) and concerns with the subjectivity of the term "invasive" (p. 136). Some of the alternate usages of the term are below:
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