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I find it interesting that many permaculturists would include "invasive" species in their designs. (What makes something invasive has more to do with few, if an
by hosh 2y ago
I find it interesting that many permaculturists would include "invasive" species in their designs. (What makes something invasive has more to do with few, if any, ecological links to other species within the area). Anything from horseradish, asparagus, to autumn olives, sea buckthorne, jujube.
There's a particular case of the Tree of Heaven, an aggressive tree species that can live on land polluted by copper tailings. They get everywhere, grow back more prolific if you tried pulling them, and do not have a pleasant odor. The mayor of Jerome, AZ seeded them to help stop erosion in Jerome. And it worked.
Even running bamboo can be managed -- the key is to consistently harvest the edible sprouts.
This demonstrates the power of regeneration in living systems, be they ecologies or individual plants. It's aligning this regenerative power with the interests of human civilization that can restore wastelands, reverse desertification, while yielding something useful for humans.
- throwup238 2y ago> The mayor of Jerome, AZ seeded them to help stop erosion in Jerome Kudzu, cheatgrass, knotweed, tree of heaven, saltcedar, crown vetch, english ivy, giant reeds, iceplant... the list goes on and on. It's absolutely ridiculous how many invasive plants have been spread intentionally to control erosion. I found out later in life that most of the iconic plants I associate with the places I grew up are invasive.
- hosh 2y agoBut, if they develop relationships with other species within that ecology, then those form networks that allows participation in the local ecology. They would no longer be invasive.
- throwup238 2y agoThat doesn't help all the plants they displace or drive extinct altogether. That's why they're called invasive, not because they're incapable of forming new ecological relationships.
- hosh 2y agoThe displacement is only a bad thing if there are no interactions between the native ecology and the new one. If there are interactions, then the ecologies start merging and adapting. The native species can still thrive because there is participation among both old and new.
- throwup238 2y agoSo even by your standard of weapons grade copium, it's always bad. Invasive species outcompete native ones by definition so they can't thrive. Seriously, go look at the iceplant covering California's coasts [1]. Or the himalayan blackberry all over the pacific north west [2]. Or the kudzu vine all over the south east US [3]. They smother native competitors and eliminate them everywhere they go, turning once diverse ecosystems into monocultures. The ecosystems don't adapt, they get wiped clean of any native plants whose niche overlaps even slightly with the invader. If the native species could adapt, the introduced species wouldn't be called "invasive" but "naturalized" [1] https://www.fiscaliniranchpreserve.org/images/Photo%201%20NPS%20dunes-covered-in-iceplant.jpg https://www.fiscaliniranchpreserve.org/images/Photo%201%20NP... [2] https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/images/2024-01/blackberry-thicket.jpg https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/styles... [3] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Kudzu_on_trees_in_Atlanta%2C_Georgia.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Kudzu_on...
- wbazant 2y agoSomething interesting about your three pictures, there's very little concrete or asphalt in them, just poor old plants that we did not spend enough effort protecting from other plants. Myth of wilderness? A typical knotweed patch that I see here in Scotland is in a disturbed urban area, for example by the railway. While it might be displacing a native species that takes over ruderal sites, e.g. blackberry or gorse, it still performs its functions of urban greenery - makes habitat for birds, cleans up the city air a bit, covers up trash on the ground.
- 2y ago