A photography website based on celebrating nature and the human/nature waltz would not be complete with out some of the more difficult aspects of the dance. We humans have been moving plant and animal species around the globe for thousands of years. Some of the plants and animals that we've transported and transplanted have become pests in their new home territories - wrecking havoc with local ecosystems, out-competing local flora and fauna for resources, and carrying diseases around the...
more »A photography website based on celebrating nature and the human/nature waltz would not be complete with out some of the more difficult aspects of the dance. We humans have been moving plant and animal species around the globe for thousands of years. Some of the plants and animals that we've transported and transplanted have become pests in their new home territories - wrecking havoc with local ecosystems, out-competing local flora and fauna for resources, and carrying diseases around the globe. This gallery contains photos of plants and animals that are in their native habitats, as well as photos of plants and animals that are relatively recently transplanted non-native species which are rapidly spreading and are considered invasive troublemakers. I have not tried to make the locals beautiful and the invaders ugly - as for many of these invasive species it was the beauty, or the theoretical or actual utility of the plants and animals, that caused them to be transported and transplanted into a new ecosystem in the first place. However, not all of the invasive exotics arrived here intentionally. Some of these species hitched a ride on an unsuspecting ship, airplane, suitcase, shoe or clothing. Two more gallery notes: Poison Ivy, which is a native species in my area and already grows amazingly well in my home county, is said to be a prime candidate for a plant that will flourish and thrive even more as the CO2 levels rise and global warming gets worse. If that happens, Poison Ivy may become a human-made, native-invasive pest, a Godzilla of a plant. Secondly, native white tail deer have lost so much of their normal wooded habitat that they have invaded the suburbs, becoming a native-invasive pest. These two species are examples of the unintended negative impact we humans can have. These photos have secondary captions which indicate whether the species in the photo are considered native or invasive/pest.
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