Current Events #4

     When a species of animal is introduced to an environment or ecosystem in which they don't usually live a lot of devastation can be caused to the surrounding environment including animals and habitats and the devastation can be quite expensive to handle as well. These animals are called invasive species and reason why they are so devastating is that they lack a natural predator meaning they can multiply in great numbers and wreak havoc on the surrounding wildlife. However, recently technology has been implemented to control and erradicate invasive species from various ecosystems.
Magna Carpa: The boat being used to handle Asian Carp in the Midwest
     The first example is of the lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean. Lionfish posses venomous spikes, making it dangerous to contact, and devour many commercial fish in the Atlantic. The answer to this problem is the Guardian LF1. This robot delivers a small shock to the fish to paralyze it, after which a tube sucks it up and is then sold to chefs. It is very effective, sucking up 15 lionfish in its 2 days of testing. A similar method has been used on Asian Carp in the waters of the Midwest. An electrified net shocks and kills the fish which then rise to the surface and are used for fertilizer. In another example a solution is found through chemical engineering. In the island of Guam, Brown Tree snakes are destroying the population of native birds. Use of acetaminophen pills glued to dead mice has allowed biologists to poison and kill these snakes. On the islands of Galapagos where goats are a problem, female goats have been chemically altered into a sterile stage. Every time the goats try to reproduce it will fail and the population of the goats will slowly decrease.
     My personal reflection is that this article proves technology is helping accomplish what would be hard to do before it. Invasive species have been a problem for centuries but it is only recently we have the resources to handle it effectively. In the past many species went extinct because they were unable to compete with invasive species. Whether a species was introduced by accident or on purpose once it was introduced there was no real way to stop its devastation. Now robots and chemistry not only make it possible to handle the problem but handle it with effectiveness and good results. While technology may seem like it can only do bad sometimes, especially with invasion of privacy and the impact on human social behavior, in this instance technology proves it has done many great things for the world though helping something that you really don't think of when you think technology - the environment.

Works Cited:

Borenstein, Seth "Robots, high tech tools join battle against invasive species" 04 May 2017. Web 08 Oct 2018.

<https://newsela.com/read/robots-battle-invasive-species/id/30078/>

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