Purple Loosestrife Essay -- essays research papers

olympian LoosestrifeThe scene is breathtakingly beautiful, a thick brush of violet rosinesss blanketsCanadas wetlands. This blanket silences the expected sounds of the wetlandenvironment, birds chirping, ducks splashing, insects buzzing and animalsthriving. This unnatural silence is disturbing, the favourite flowers that useto litter this landscape are no longer visible, the water that utilise to ripplecontinuously is perfectly still. The wetland is dead, except for thisoverpowering, hardy discolor flower that has choked out all other vegetation andspecies. purpleness loosestrife right off tallys this landscape.Purple loosestrife is an exotic species that was introduced to North the Statesfrom Europe during the early 1800s. Europeans coast to North America wouldfill their ships ballast with wet sand taken from shores of Europe, a habitatwhere purple loosestrife thrived. Upon arrival in North America the ballastwould be dumped overboard on the shoreline. By 1830 the plant wa s nearlyestablished along the New England seaboard. Purple loosestrife seeds were alsofound in sheep and livestock feed that was imported from Europe during thisperiod. This new organism was introduced to a new habitat free from traditionalparasites, predators and competitors, purple loosestrife thrived in theenvironmental conditions and by 1880 was rapidly spreading north and westthrough the groove and marine routes. Purple loosestrife stands also increaseddue to the importation of seeds and resolution stalks by horticulturists. It wasintroduced to many communities as an herb, an ornamental garden flower and as adesirable honey plant.One of the earliest reported studies of purple loosestrife be a line of work inCanada was documented by Mr. Louis - Marie, in 1944. He stated that purpleloosestrife was invading the St. Lawrence flood plain pastures amongst Montrealand Quebec. At that time Louis - Marie conducted a study to find suitable understand methods for purple loosestrife. His results indicated that repeatedmowing, continuous grazing, deep discing and harrowing were sound in keepingthe spread of purple loosestrife controlled on agriculture land. Since the1940s purple loosestrife infestations clear increased greatly and the plant isnow a major problem threatening many wetland ecosystems across North America.Figure 1 - Purple loosestrife flowers.... ...ie will destroy a lot of wetland andfarmland. With biological control we burn down only hope that the ecosystems can bebrought back under control.Purple loosestrife is a very serious problem. Its rapid invasion is threateningwetlands, water bird and fisheries as well as the transformation of Canadas flora andfauna. If this plant is not brought under control quickly then the result ofthis exotic species being brought to Canada could be disastrous. The use ofcultural and chemical control has not been effective so we now rely on thesuccess of biological control to stop the spread of this hardy invasive plantand to replenish the diversity of Canadas wetland ecosystem. As a country wemust do everything we can to edit out the spread and growth of purple loosestrife.As a concerned Canadian you can report any local purple loosestrife stands,spread your familiarity about the problem, strongly discourage the plantings ofany new plants or the interchange of the weed in nurseries and join the OntarioFederation of Anglers and Hunters. By doing this you are donating gold andsupport the tests that are being conducted. We must work together to move back thepurple blanket that silences our wetlands.