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Accidental migration not part of nature's plan
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Published: July 11, 2009
The law of unintended consequences is evident when people start moving animals and plants hither and yon without regard to natural habitat.
Carp to be placed in North Carolina lakes to reduce invasive weed problem, proclaims the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Invasive aquatic weeds have been a problem for years. It starts when somebody, often illegally, brings a different species of plant into the United States and the thing goes crazy.
Oh, that would look good in our pond. Then the plant migrates to a larger body of water via animals, a stream, even ferocious weather.
A boater unwittingly carries the plant, wrapped around a propeller shaft, to another lake or river.
And the invasion is on.
When hydrilla and other foreign plants started choking North Carolina rivers and lakes years ago, somebody mentioned grass carp. Koi is a grass carp, and it's right tasty.
Some people had a fit. The carp will eat all the hydrilla and then destroy the natural vegetation and thus kill off native fish that depend on natural vegetation but don't eat hydrilla, et al.
Turns out that grass carp do have predators in native waters.
Introducing grass carp in five North Carolina lakes — Belews, Howell, Norman, Mountain Island and Wiley — still has detractors, but it seems to be a better alternative than spraying herbicide, draining lakes to extreme levels or trying to sear the weeds out of existence.
Other lakes are threatened with lion fish and lung fish. They have few natural enemies in our waters.
Then there are fire ants and African bees, two insects that strike fear into many people.
Legends about these killer species abound. Many tales are overblown, but people with certain allergies encounter these ants and bees at their peril.
Fire ants are steadily marching into cooler climates once considered safe. Queens have learned to burrow deeper to survive winter cold, a prime example of the adaptability of nature's children.
Florida is having a terrible time with Burmese pythons that have escaped into the wild from their owners.
They make perilous pets, and they upset the balance that nature has refined for millennia.
Now, Florida wildlife officials are struggling to find a solution to the rapidly growing python population.
Here in the South, everyone knows about kudzu. This import decided our soil was perfect for putting down roots. It has ravaged woods and choked out wildlife except for small critters who depend on the camouflage of thick vegetation.
Kudzu must be killed underground. Spraying the pesky runners above ground only delays its spread
Kudzu can be eliminated with systemic herbicide, but such stuff also kills everything else in the vicinity. Systemic, as opposed to topical, herbicides leach into subterranean water sources and can migrate far outside the area of application.
This kind of vegetation killer can be wicked and destroy more than it reclaims because of its longevity.
Availability of many of these herbicides are tightly controlled.
One invading species of animal that has been a boon to the New World is the horse. It adapted to the environment quickly, and America expanded on horseback.
The symbiotic relationship the horse established with its new habitat is an exception.
Most of the time, a non-native species of plant, animal or insect is an enemy. It was not intended to cross international boundaries.
If there were no humans, nature would take its course. Some species would be crowded off the planet and others would thrive. Nature would re-balance the ecology at her leisure.
New predators would develop, and different symbioses take shape. Humans, however, are set in their ways, and we demand instant results.
Thus, we're looking to grass carp to bail us out of a jam of our own making.
Is this what nature would do if left to her own devices? We don't know. It's a calculated risk.
The probability of success is high. It seems like a good idea. But nobody thought kudzu would thrive as it has. It was supposed to be cattle forage.
Turns out, cattle don't like it, but we're pretty sure grass carp like hydrilla.
Burmese pythons like anything warm-blooded they can wrap around. But they probably can't be trained to go after carp.
We must be careful when we fool around with Mother Nature, even if our intentions are good.
The law of unintended consequences is as tenacious as kudzu and as unpredictable as killer bees.
Larry Clark is a Record staff writer. Reach him at lclark@hickoryrecord.com.
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