The purple loosestrife have gotten out of control in the continental US, and are taking over and choking out native species and altering the habitats. Blossey et al. argues that the impacts of the purple loosestrife upon the environment are of great enough magnitude where it would be worth it to release another nonnative species, an insect, as a biocontrol method to attempt to reduce the population of the loosestrife and keep it under control. The loosestrife have risen in both number and extent to which they alter the habitat they live in, and though it might seem that they would only impact other competing native plant species, they also have become enough of a problem where they also are hurting animal species, especially specialized wetland birds. Though the introduction of other nonnative species may have unforeseen negative impacts, with so much potential in danger as a result of the loosestrife, the prospective benefits would outweigh the possible dangers.
Blossey, Bernd, Luke C. Skinner, and Janith Taylor. “Impact and Management of
Purple Loosestrife.” Biodiversity and Conservation 10 (2001): 1787 – 1807.
Web of Science. Web. 25 Sept. 2010.
I think you did an excellent job in stating the problem, the solution, and the problem with the solution all within the word limit. If you did have a word limit extension though, one area I’d like to see elaborated would be how the biocontrol would actually help. Would it eat the loosestrife directly? Or by another method? And one last teeny thing that kind of bugged me is that you used potential/potentially 3 times in the last sentence…
Thanks for the feedback. I agree with your suggestions, and yes, I should potentially change the last sentence.
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