Souvenirs you shouldn’t bring back from vacation

With school soon to be out, summer outings become the usual. People often bring mementos home from vacation, but some keepsakes are best left behind. Living organisms, whether plant or animal, do not make good souvenirs.
When an organism gets introduced to a new habitat, such as your lawn or garden, it does not usually have natural predators to control its population. It may grow out of control, spreading throughout an area quickly and using resources that would otherwise be used by native species.
People have been introducing species to new habitats since the first humans migrated.
Travelers often took seeds or plants on their journeys to eat, trade or plant when they resettled in new places. Many of our crop and livestock species arrived this way, brought over from Europe with the early settlers. These plants and animals are “introduced species” - they are not native to the United States - but they are not “invasive.” We don’t have problems with large flocks of chickens running rampant down Main Street or apple trees choking out other vegetation over thousands of acres.
Invasive species are introduced species that are a threat to the natural environment because they have traits that allow them to out-compete the local species. The newcomers may reproduce faster than the native species, crowding them out or the plants may taste bad to animals or be difficult to eat, preventing population control. The invasive species become more numerous, filling the niches of the native species and reducing their numbers substantially. Researchers at Cornell University estimate that 42 percent of our threatened and endangered species are in that situation because of introduced species.
One invasive species is kudzu. Kudzu is a vine that was brought to the U.S. from Japan in the mid-1930s and planted in the southeastern states for erosion control. In addition to spreading along the ground, kudzu climbs up trees, telephone poles and buildings. Kudzu grows about a foot a day, blocking sunlight for native plants, weighing trees down until they break and killing trees by girdling them. It is hard to control and has now spread north to New York and west to Oklahoma. Another invasive pest was introduced to the U.S. with the arrival of the first Asian chestnut tree. That tree, brought to America for a New York City zoo, had a fungus spread by wind that decimated most of the American chestnut trees within a few decades. Two of the most common birds in the U.S., house sparrows and starlings, were introduced into the U.S. in the 1800s. Originally, 100 house sparrows and 60 starlings were introduced in New York City. Now they vastly outnumber native birds across the country.
To prevent similar tragedies and safeguard our natural resources as well as our food supply, the U.S. uses agricultural specialists and detector dogs to monitor imports and exports of plant and animal products at international airports, border crossings and international postal facilities.
They examine all luggage, containers and even wooden pallets for pest species. In addition to preventing pest importation by tourists, inspectors aim to thwart any attempts at agro-terrorism. Even within the U.S., there are regulations regarding the transport of plants and other agricultural products, to stop the spread of pests and diseases in our country.
You can help stop invasive species from hurting our food supply and natural resources. Do not bring unapproved living organisms into the country, and check regulations before moving plants or animals between states. You can find more information about the regulations of imports and exports here: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/index.shtml.
If you have questions concerning this topic or related topics, contact the OSU Extension Center at 273-7683, stop by the office, or visit our Web site: http://countyext.okstate.edu/pottawatomie/.