100 Alien Invaders: Animals And Plants That Are Changing Our World

by Gill Williams

Overview

100 Alien Invaders exposes one of the greatest threats to the planet after climate change and overpopulation. Animals and plants are perfectly harmless in their native areas, but become a menace when they colonize new territories—often out-competing native species and, in some instances, drastically affecting the ecology. What's more, it is humankind that is largely responsible. Some species, such as killer bees and cane toads, are obvious terrors. Others, such as the water hyacinth, pose a more insidious threat. Read this book and you'll never look at house sparrows or hedgehogs in the same way again. 100 Alien Invaders is a warts-and-all exposé of 100 of the most destructive alien species on the planet.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781841623597
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/18/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Gill Williams is a travel and natural history journalist with more than 30 years experience. She runs greentravelguides.tv, an internet TV channel showing people how to travel without trashing the planet.

Read an Excerpt

100 Alien Invaders

Animals and Plants that are Changing our World

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By Gill Williams

Bradt Travel Guides

Copyright © 2011 Gill Williams
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9781841623597

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The Pilgrim fathers probably bought cats to North America on ships such as the Mayflower, and the feisty felines have been behaving like environmental hooligans ever since. The number of cats in the US has leapt from 30 million in the 1970s to at least 70 million kept as pets today. Then there are the feral cats, anywhere between 40 and 60 million, according to the American Bird Conservancy (ABC).

With its devastating hunting skills, the cat is a serious threat to the survival of some of the United States’ most vulnerable species. In Florida, the wildlife service estimates cats kill 271 million small mammals and 68 million birds every year, many of them endangered native species. The feral cat, as wild and wily as any non-domestic predator, is a particular threat to hatchling green sea turtles, and rare endemic mammals such as the Lower Keys marsh rabbit. As few as 100 marsh rabbits survive, and the species is likely to disappear within 20 years if the current mortality rates continue. A study showed that feral cats were responsible for more than half the marsh rabbit deaths.

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Excerpted from 100 Alien Invaders by Gill Williams Copyright © 2011 by Gill Williams. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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