WANTED+-+Invasive+Species

WANTED: INVASIVE SPECIES!

When organisms evolve in an ecosystem over long periods of time, they adapt to a sort of routine - their niche in that ecosystem. When non-native species move in, they can disrupt that routine. Not all non-natives are harmful - Maple trees, for example, are an accepted piece of our local ecology, yet they evolved on the North Eastern coast of the United States, in a completely different ecosystem. Honeybees evolved in Europe, and now, we couldn't imagine life without them.

However, some non-natives are aggressive competitors, and will out-compete the local plants and animals, throwing the whole food web into chaos. These aggressive competitors, or invasive species, can be extremely difficult to remove once established.

Your task is to create a Wanted Poster for an invasive species of your choice. Use your imagination to create a product that you will be proud of, but in order to receive full credit, make sure that it includes the following elements:


 * A LARGE picture of your species. This should probably be the center-piece of your poster, but I will leave that up to you.
 * A description of this species, including is appearance and behavior.
 * A map depicting the range of this invader
 * A description of where this invader can be found (the invaded ecosystems) and how it got there.
 * A description of where this invader came from originally

Do your initial research using the National Invasive Species Information Center. Under the "Browse by Subject" menu on the left side of the page, choose Aquatic Species, Plants, Animals, or Microbes to find lists of federally designate invasive species.

Click here to see examples of Wanted Posters

DUE TOMORROW!