Native and Invasive Species at Gold Park
By Toqa Abosabaa
For my Service Learning Project, I signed up for a bird walk in Seattle to look at different species of birds. However, due to daylight savings time changes, the event coordinator was an hour late, so instead we visited Gold Park by Edmonds Community College to look at native and invasive species. The event lasted for about two hours, from 9:30am to 11:30pm on March 11, 2017. The name of the event organizer is Ekaterina Rar. Her email address is ekaterina.rar@email.edcc.edu.
The goals of the event were to identify some native and invasive plant species, and to determine how invasive plants can affect other native plants, animals, the environment, and our society. We started out by completing a survey about native and invasive plant species. We had to give the name of each plant and determine whether or not it was native or invasive. Then we took a trip to Gold Park to find these different plants. I found that knowing the names of these plants was important because some native species looked similar to invasive species. For example, the English Holly and the Oregon Grape look very similar to each other due to the appearance of their leaves. Both are green and possess sharp edges.
English Holly
Oregon Grape
However, one is distinguishable from the other due to the orientation of the sharp edges on the leaves. The sharp edges on the leaves of the Oregon grape are pointing in the same direction on both sides. However, the edges of the English Holly are alternating on both sides. English Holly is invasive plant species, while Oregon Grape is a native species. It is important to distinguish the two plants because invasive species can be harmful to native species and the environment. If overpopulation of invasive species results in an area, this could harm the native species. Invasive species can cause soil toxicity, and can increase the emission of carbon dioxide into the environment. This is harmful to the environment because it can facilitate processes such as global warming. At the same time, invasive species can reduce the emission of oxygen into the environment. This is due to the invasive species harming the native species.
For example, English Ivy is an invasive species that can grow and spread on trees and other surfaces. When English Ivy grows nearby and onto trees, it can reduce the amount of nutrients that the tree could be receiving. And if it clings and grows onto the tree, it can make the tree weaker and therefore easier to fall and die. This reduces the amount of oxygen that goes into the environment, which can affect animals that need oxygen to breathe.
Invasive species can also take over native wildlife habitats because most wildlife cannot breed in a habitat overrun by invasive species. During the walk at Gold Park, the event coordinator described rats as one of the only animals to be able to breed in an area overrun by invasive species such as English Ivy. Furthermore, Invasive species can affect key industries such as seafood. Salmon move through streams for mating, and while going upstream, they use pockets in the water for resting. Invasive plants can affect the mating process in that they don’t provide pockets in the streams for the salmon to rest, whilst a native plant like a tree could do so.
Although we didn’t get to look at animals such as birds, I found this event to be very worthwhile and I was able to see things from a different perspective. We learned how plants can make up an environment for animals and how they could help wildlife flourish, as well as be a danger to wildlife at the same time. Scientific studies focusing on topics like native and invasive species play a huge role in society because plants and forests can affect our industries, the food we eat, and our animals. Community service that can help control native species would be very helpful to our society in that it would contribute to healthy air, forests, and wildlife habitats, and could keep key industries flourishing, such as the salmon industries.
There were four questions that were raised during the trip. To what extent do invasive species contribute to global warming due to increased carbon dioxide emissions? How do invasive species make their way into an area that consists of mostly native species? In what ways can the community help reduce the population of invasive plants? Is there a specific reason as to why English Holly and Oregon Grape leaves look very similar to each other?
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