As people move around the earth, either through their own volition or through force, they carry things from the places they originated. Customs, language, genetics, as well as animal materials. Like the people that traveled the world, some animals traveled with their human overseers in search of greener pastures. Others, like the rat and mouse, stowed away and came voluntarily in the cargo and ships of merchants and nomads. Still other animals were subdued and transported as chattel to new lands, like the equine, bovine, and swine to the Americas.
Plants too traveled with human beings. Where people moved so did plant materials and the knowledge of what they were used for. People often carefully wrapped seeds for transport as a reminder of home to plant in the a new land. Sometimes, plants hitched rides on people's clothing or in the human waste. These were survival tactics of both humans and plants. The neolithic revolution's domestication of plants from wheat to corn has proved the symbiotic relationship between our evolution.
Over the years we've been exposed to a lot of talk about invasives - both animal and plant based. Through the wild edibles class we took at IU and attending the free SNAYL (Sustaining Nature and Your Land) Day events we learned how to identify plants, we learned about indigenous plants, and the top 10 invasive plants. The invasives have been causing great ecological changes for the past few hundred years, especially with the importation of aesthetically pleasing species to recreate a particular ideal landscape or supposedly useful plants. In the United States the ubiquitous dandelion was brought over as a food, but has mostly become the bane of lawn keeper's existence. Similarly, broad leaf or plantain is found in all but the most chemically treated green space. The name supposedly comes from the Latin word for foot because as Shakespeare said "Where ever the white man stepped the plant would crop up!" Like its counterpart the dandelion, the plantain's medicinal and edible use has all but slipped from the general public's knowledge.
The fact that a plant or animal is invasive does not make them inherentaly bad. Because one could argue they lack the consciousness to actively take charge of breeding the native species out. It is not necessarily their fault that humans transported them over. However,their passivity should not be confused with weakness. Take the Japanese and/or Asian Honey Suckle that propagates quickly through runners and seed. Not only do they spread more quickly than their American counterparts, but they provide less nutrition to the birds that help spread their seed around. Likewise, the feral pig escaped its confines as any caged creature is want of freedom. Currently, its distribution runs from the south (especially Texas into Florida) up to the north as far as the Great Lakes and is even present as west as California! Additionally, the recent importation of large reptiles such as boa constrictors and Burmese python snakes have become a problem in the Florida wetlands due to people releasing their "pets" into the wilds because they can no longer maintain the animal. They cause millions of dollars worth of damage to foul breeders and because of their lack of natural predators reproduce at a pace that cannot keep up with their ravenous appetites.
The list of invasives could go on and on. But not all imported life forms become invasive or are threats to indigenous life forms. Many cannot propagate without human intervention, or many propagate slowly so that they are not in competition with the native species. Others find a certain ecological niche and create a symbiotic relationship with aboriginal life forms which maintains ecological balance. When we look around the world we see (though we may not know it) species that have been introduced. Sometimes the lifeforms have adapted so well the term that identifies them is "naturalized."
What then about human beings? Whenever, we have been in a conversation about house sparrows, starlings, Japanese Knotweed, or the Tree of Heaven, not once have the White people speaking about them mentioned the irony of their own presence in the United States or Africa, or Asia. I remember walking on the Durban beach one evening with my cousin and some Zulu friends. We passed by a fisherman of English descent. We had a small exchange with the fisherman about the aquatic life and his closing was "I know my ocean!" To which one of our Zulu friends became quite upset and responded "You're Ocean?" challenging the colonial mindset of the white man. Often however, the White man is not challenged. He maintains his superiority and dominion over nature with knowledge and classification systems, much like Carl Linnaeus.
In a sense the people speaking about native or invasive plants or animals seem to ignore that they too might be considered an invasive species. This is not a statement to say that all humans beings that have genetics other than that of the indigenous people's of any land are invasive. However, when those people fail to address the concerns of the indigenous people of where they are living, when they fail to learn about the histories and customs of the lands where they reside that goes beyond the limited scope of the history books and classes, or history channel they are guilty of acting like an invasive species by disregarding the Natives of the land and competing to the point where the indigenous peoples and cultures can not thrive.
So while it is great to plant indigenous species in your garden and it's wonderful to learn about the indigenous cultures, it's even better to connect with the aboriginal peoples and communities and to work together for the betterment of individuals and society in general. It is not okay though to misappropriate culture, knowledge, and customs without permission or credit. Let us all work together on this planet to eradicate invasive species by caring for each other, eliminating the need for competition, and helping each other thrive!
References:
http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/animals/wildboar.shtml
https://www.fort.usgs.gov/flconstrictors
"SNAYL Day" online at: http://www.mc-iris.org/sustaining-nature-and-your-land-day.html
"National Feral Swine Mapping System" online at: http://www.wildpigconference.com/proceedings09/corn.pdf
"Giant Constrictor Snakes in Florida: A Sizeable Research Challenge" online at: https://www.fort.usgs.gov/flconstrictors
http://www.linnean.org/Education+Resources/who_was_linnaeus
No comments:
Post a Comment