Species Management Plan
Management Plan
In this project, we learned about the invasive species, particularly the American Bullfrog, which is HIGHLY invasive. It has spread to over 40 countries and many different states. It has started showing up on the Durango Nature Studies property, and we decided to come up with a plan to exterminate the bullfrog and encourage the growth of the native Leopard Frog population. To get the information we needed, my class went down to the property to catch and count the two species of frogs. While we were there, we conducted assessed the water quality, tested pH, counted different macroinvertebrates, and took wildlife inventory. Once we had gathered our information, we made tables and graphs into a PowerPoint presentation of our management plan that we presented to local biologists.
Management Plan
In this project, we learned about the invasive species, particularly the American Bullfrog, which is HIGHLY invasive. It has spread to over 40 countries and many different states. It has started showing up on the Durango Nature Studies property, and we decided to come up with a plan to exterminate the bullfrog and encourage the growth of the native Leopard Frog population. To get the information we needed, my class went down to the property to catch and count the two species of frogs. While we were there, we conducted assessed the water quality, tested pH, counted different macroinvertebrates, and took wildlife inventory. Once we had gathered our information, we made tables and graphs into a PowerPoint presentation of our management plan that we presented to local biologists.
We read an article called “Time to Stop Worrying About Invasive Species?”. This article is saying that people should not think of invasive species as terrible things. New species tend to increase biodiversity rather than decreasing it. Also, we should not judge a species by its place of origin and maybe it is contributing positively to the ecosystem. The article also communicates that we should not think of them as invasive, but think of how they affect the ecosystem. The article states that the insect that kills the most trees is a native species and not an invasive one. This article communicates the fact that invasive species can be helpful rather than hurtful and we should stop viewing them as evil.
I personally do not believe bullfrogs are that big of a deal in Colorado. They are native to the eastern part of our state, and the fact that they’ve spread a little bit is not completely terrible. There really is no evidence that the bullfrogs are competing for resources or killing anything off. So I don’t believe they are a big issue in Colorado. However, I find it an issue globally. They have been introduced to 40 different countries worldwide, which means that somewhere the bullfrog is competing and must be taken care of. 40 is quite a big number, when you think about it, especially when we’re talking about countries. Quite frankly, I don’t believe the work I’ve done over the past few weeks was relevant or important. Bullfrogs really haven’t done much to the ecosystem, and I don’t believe we should remove them if they aren’t causing any harm. When the bullfrogs start eating everything and wreaking havoc, go ahead and use one of our plans. But for now, I believe we did all this for no reason.
While I did find this project pointless, I took a couple things away from it that will help me in the long run. For example, my Microsoft Excel skills were not completely brilliant and in this project I was able to improve them. Also, this project helped me to understand ecology and why invasive species are feared so much. I had no background on either of those things, so this helped a lot.
