UNWANTED!
2 most unwanted invasive species
Invasive Species/ What their impacts are/
An invasive species is a plant or animal, that have come to okanagan accidentally or on purposed, even though they are not allowed to be here. They were allowed in the country by foolish scientists thinking they would help the ecosystem. The impacts they have on the ecosystem are the Purple loosestrife is taking over and the Praying Mantis is also taking over with the native species.
Purple Loosetrife
Physical Descriptions/scientific name/ Mugshots
The Purple loosestrife an invasive plant that no one wants, there scientific name is the Lythrum Salicaria. The purple loosestrife plant, it grows from 0.5 - 3 meters tall depending in the habitat conditions. It has a square, wooden stem with whorled leaves that are mainly laced shaped and stalkless. At the base of the plant the leaves are heart shaped or rounded. The length of the leaves are from 3-10 cm and the upper section is covered with short hairs. The start to bloom when it starts to get warm in the summer.
Praying mantis/Physical descriptions/ Mugshots
The praying mantis's are a well known invasive species, so do what ever it takes to get rid of them! The Praying mantis's scientific name is the Mantis Religiosa. It has a long slender neck like therax, with a spiny grasping legs. It has prominent compound eyes with thread like antennae. The adults are 47-56mm long, they can be either brown or green and both gender have wings. they like to hide in long grass because they like to camouflage with the grass.
Praying Mantis/ Habitat/ Recent Sightings/
The kind of habitat that the Praying Mantis likes to live in is long grassy area and also places that they would camouflage in. Recently there has been 26 sightings over the past couple years in the okanagan.
Purple Loosestife/ Habitat/ Recent Sightings/
The Purple Loosestrife likes to live in a nice sunny, wet land. That is moist but not too wet. Over the past couple years in the okanagan there has been no sightings but it is still a well estasblished plant here in the okanagan.
Praying Mantis/where they came from/ How they Got here/
The Praying Mantis was introduced accidently to New York from Europe in the 1899's. Then it spread to the eastern Canada soon after. In the 1930's the Praying Mantis arrived in BC when federal entomologist in the Okangan and Shuswap Region imported them in an attempt to control grasshoppers. Praying Mantis's quickly disappeared from most of the region, but in the 1970's, there was a small population between Okangan Falls and Osoyoos in the southern okanagan.They have speard across to far north of Kamloops.
Purple Loosestrife/ where they came from/ How they got here/
The Purple loosestrife arrived in the Eastern North America in the early 1800's,on a water ballast ship. It was first planted in this Provice in a Port Alberni garden in 1916 and has spread across the southern British Columbia. This plant was also intentionally introduced as a medical plant at the hand of a bee keeper, it is also yields a popular honey.
Praying mantis/ How the negatively impact the local ecosystem/
The increases have been very large how ever it has intoduced a new competitor to many areas. The Ground Mantis have shared there habitat with the Praying Mantis witch have made the population bigger. The Praying Mantis is also taking over and killing the native species.
Purple Loosestife/ How it negatively impacts the ecosystem/
Purple loosestife out completes space and light and pollinators and chokes native species. In the U.S they estimate that 200000, hectores are lost due to Purple Loosestrife. That is how they negatively impacts the ecosystem.
Praying mantis/How they reduce or spread/ How do they spread so easily/
The female intentionally bites off the heads off the her male partners before they start mating. When they are in the wild it is different for reproducing , the male has to dance in front of the female before they start mating. The reason it spreads so quickly is because it doesn't have any natural predators that can kill them, they also have a lot of food to eat.
Purple Loosestirfe/ How they reproduce or spread/ how they spread so easily/
The seeds sink into the water surroundings the plant gerniate and then float until they find a stable place to root. That's how they reproduce. The reason it speads so quickly is because the plant can reproduce up to 2.7 seeds a year.