child I say it takes an entire planet
imagine your typical day you wake up you
get out of bed you have a healthy
breakfast perhaps with some vitamins
then you take a quick shower get dressed
and go to work for lunch you go to a
local restaurant when you come home you
go for a quick run before the rain comes
perhaps you decide to do a little bit of
gardening and yard work for supper you
have steak and potatoes serve with wine
and for dessert and apple pie then you
read a book and cuddle with your family
and pets before you go to bed nothing
for a moment what makes a typical day
possible for you everything we own and
use do not come from people they have
always originated or come from forests
it is easy to see the relationship
between forests and us because of the
tangible benefits they provide such as
food in our pantries and furniture in a
house however it is much more difficult
to see all the intangible benefits that
the forest provide us on a daily basis
for a stabilized soils and affect
rainfall patterns allowing crops to grow
they even protect us as without forests
we would have more droughts flooding and
disease events the clean air we breed is
compliments of the most massive and
efficient air filtration system in the
world and let’s not forget that forests
are places where we relax and where many
beautiful memories with our friends and
families are created forests are a
pantries
medicine cabinet oxygen and water
sources and spiritual sanctuaries and
yet as critical as forests have been to
our existence they have largely been
mismanaged ancient civilizations such as
the Whiting’s Mayans and Easter
Islanders vanished partially because
they overused their forest resources yet
the biggest threat to our forests today
is not overused at least in the u.s. it
is the repeated invasion of non-native
species which are species that have been
moved beyond their native geographical
range in fact non-native species are
considered the second largest leading
cause of loss of native biodiversity our
forests have changed irreversibly
because of non-native species as a
forest entomologist at the one L school
of forestry and natural resources here
at the University of Georgia I spend
more than half my time researching
non-native species it is frustrating to
me that in many different ways we know a
lot more about a non-native species then
we know about our native ones because of
the tremendous impacts for those of you
who grew up in the southern US you grew
up with non-native species perhaps even
realizing it we all remember the stings
of fire ants that have originated from
South America and kudzu which is so
common along the roadways and open
fields came from East Asia our history
with the non-native species began in the
17th century with the first European
colonization where many of these species
hitchhiked on ships containers goods and
luggages however not all introductions
have been accidental a classic example
is that of starlings that were
introduced by Eugene Schieffelin
president of the American acclimatize
in society because he wanted to have all
the birds mentioned in William
Shakespeare’s plays represented in the
new world today starlings are considered
the top 100 worst non-native species
around the world because of the impact
on crops and native birds it sounds
ridiculous doesn’t it that we have
introduced non-native species based on
emotional value rather than sound
scientific facts initially many of these
introductions were slow because of a
general lack of trade and Karma’s around
the world however as we have become
globalized these introductions have
increased exponentially as we have moved
around the planet so have these
non-native species the ecological
impacts of non-native species is
staggering as they have changed a forest
forever the chestnut trees would the
iconic American tree considered redwood
of the East Coast and provided many
different products that were used from
cribs to caskets about a quarter of all
the trees on the East Coast were
chestnuts that grew to over 100 feet and
provided an abundance of nuts each year
these chestnut forests provided food and
resources for many different wildlife
species and humans however since the
introduction of the non-native chestnut
blight these iconic forests have
vanished forever and have not been seen
by the last two to three generations we
are witnessing a loss of our other
native trees as well such as ash trees
which are being decimated by emerald ash
borer maples by Asian longhorn beetle
and hemlocks by hemlock woolly adelgid
loss of native trees invariably results
in loss of native animal and plant
species associated with those habitats
it is estimated that about 50% of a
native species are endangered because of
the non-native species sometimes
non-native species can directly
out-compete native ones for example
cogongrass
that grow so densely that no other plant
can be present in the understory
predators such as the brown tree snake
has virtually eliminated most of the
native birds in Guam non-native species
can also hybridize with the native ones
so that the original genetic diversity
is lost however we are not only
concerned about the ecological impacts
because the economic costs have been
staggering as they cost about over 130
billion dollars of loss each year in the
US alone in many instances these loss
are only noticeable when they occur in
our own backyard
for example emerald ash borer that has
killed tens and millions of ash trees
along the east coast overwhelmed the
local communities with wood just for
removal replanting and habitat
restoration emerald ash borer has costed
over 10 billion dollars of lost on the
East Coast now in the southeastern US
which is where we are we considered the
wood basket of the world because we’re a
major producer of pub wood and saw
timber around the world in Georgia we
are exceptionally fortunate because
about 70% of our land is forested in
fact forestry is considered the second
largest industry in the state providing
over 60 billion timber and non-timber
value to the state along with 140,000
jobs per year now just imagine if we
would introduce a non-native species
that could kill our pine trees we would
lose these trees along with tens and
thousands of jobs and the small
communities that persist around with
these industries were the cultures and
histories will vanish
forever as humans we have played the
most important role in movement of
non-native species around the world
which means that we can play an equally
important role in stopping the invasion
process the good news is we don’t need
to make large changes in our lifestyle
rather small changes along being
conscious of the threat are the first
steps to solving this problem so let me
offer you a few ways in terms of what we
can incorporate in our daily lives first
of all think of planting native species
instead of just the prettiest ones at
the store secondly when you go camping
by local firewood as opposed to bringing
it from somewhere else
you don’t be surprised to know how many
non-native insects are moved around in
the firewood alone
and finally think of volunteering at
local parks nature centers and preserves
to assist with removal of non-native
species and habitat restoration efforts
imagine losing all our trees and left
with nothing but grasslands that’s the
future unless and until we decide to do
something about it just like we have
created these tremendous ecological and
economic issues with non-native species
we’re just as capable of getting rid of
them but that would mean making small
yet persistent and significant changes
in our lifestyles together it takes an
entire planet for us to have a typical
day yet the choices we make in that
typical day can have positive impacts on the planets future thank you