We all know that some species must be cautious when they are introduced, because some alien species come to a certain place, especially some extremely vigorous organisms, which may flood and seriously damage the local ecological balance.
This is also what we often call "species invasion". Speaking of species invasions, we have to talk about the British plant invasion in 1850, how terrible was the outcome at that time?
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the invasion of British-Japanese knotweed</h1>
The story begins with a botanist, Philip Franz von Siebold, a well-known physician, botanist, and traveler who was stationed in Japan as an official.
In 1850, the beautiful Japanese knotweed (scientific name: Fallopia Japonica) was brought back to England from Japan by Philip Franz von Siebold, a knotweed plant of the family Tateshina that grows near a volcano in Japan.
Because of its high appearance, pink stems and small white flowers, like the flowers of wonderland, the British only brought back japanese knotweed as an ornamental plant.
But after this beautiful plant was brought back to The United Kingdom, what people did not expect was that a terrible species invasion began, because Japanese knotweed can not only be eaten and medicated, but also has a very high survival rate, you can take a few scattered rhizomes and put them in the soil and finally grow into tall plants, so it has been loved and planted by many people.
However, it didn't take long, perhaps because of the radical change in the environment in which Japanese knotweed was located, so it began to grow wildly, and wherever Japanese knotweed existed, other plants could hardly survive.
In addition, it also caused trouble for the locals, and the floors, walls and even cement floors and asphalt roads were all their presence, making the British miserable, which was also a rare plant invasion in history.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the reproductive ability of Japanese knotweed is extremely strong</h1>
First of all, the reproductive viability of Japanese knotweed is extremely strong, and only a seed or a small rhizome fragment can spread a large piece of Japanese knotweed in a short period of time.
Secondly, Japanese knotweed is not afraid of water, its broken leaves can drift downstream along rivers or streams to continue to grow, it must be uprooted and burned to prevent spread, but most people have only removed the rhizomes on the surface of Japanese knotweed.
Then the root system of Japanese knotweed is still very developed, only into the soil, its root distance can reach about 3 meters underground, if it is flat, the root depth of Japanese knotweed will even exceed 7 meters, it is difficult to clean.
It can also wait 10 years before regrowing; finally Japanese knotweed has a strong penetrating ability, can drill out of cement slabs or brick crevices, relying on its strong root system to widen the cracks and cause harm to buildings.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Japanese knotweed has been blacklisted in the UK</h1>
Due to the rampant breeding of Japanese knotweed in Britain, it threatened the survival of many animals and plants, not only that, they also used their developed root system and strong survivability to destroy buildings, causing serious damage to British architecture.
Moreover, the United Kingdom has to invest 1.5 billion yuan a year to control the spread of Japanese knotweed, so Japanese knotweed has become one of the most hated plants in the British people. In the United Kingdom, there is also a rule that if someone in the United Kingdom grows Japanese knotweed, he will be fined by the British government.
At the 2012 London Olympics, before the stadium began, the government spent more than £70 million to clean up the surrounding Japanese knotweed, and the combined money spent over the years reached billions, but with little effect.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > is there a natural enemy of Japanese knotweed? </h1>
Belonging to the order Insects , Homoptera , and Pectoral Beak , it is a plant-harmful organism because instead of nibbling directly on plants, they use sharp mouthparts to suck the sap of plants.
At the same time, they also lay large numbers of eggs on the plant, and their offspring will continue to feed on the sap of the plant, which is essentially a pest.
Because Japanese knotweed is more fat and succulent than other plants, wood lice prefer Japanese knotweed, so in 2003, the British introduced this insect.
Unfortunately, however, the psyllid did not play much of a role, and scientists believe that this may be caused by the local Tsubaki in the United Kingdom (Tsubaki is a natural enemy of the Psyllid). Now that we are in England, we still have enough to see the Figure of Japanese Knotweed.
So far, species invasion is still a hazard for now, such as the past crayfish invasion incident, as long as the species invasion occurs, it is difficult to completely eliminate it by relying on the level of science and technology.
At the same time, the species invasion of Japanese knotweed also makes us deeply aware that the balance in nature cannot be easily broken, otherwise it will not only destroy the ecological environment, but also eventually have an impact on the survival of human beings.