The Plight Of The WetlandsEssay Preview: The Plight Of The WetlandsReport this essayThe Plight of the Southern WetlandsThe South American Nutria, Myocastor coypus, has become a huge headache for the southern United States of America (Nickens 2000). In order to identify the beast known as the Nutria, one must know exactly what he looks like considering he is the worlds second largest rodent (Annin 1993). Nutrias look similar to a beaver but with a rat-like tail, is up to 25 inches long and 15 pounds in weight, has huge incisor teeth, and webbed hind feet (Colombia Encyclopedia Sept 2006). They spend most of their time in or around water and their impacts are felt by all the wildlife and vegetation (National Trappers Association September 2006).
Nutrias originate from South America and were first introduced by fur farmers that wanted to domestically reproduce them in order to make a profit off their furs. A man by the name of E.A. McIlhenny is blamed for dispersing the nutria problem from South America for local fur trade and kept a few nutria caged where they bred in ridiculous numbers. When a hurricane hit the nutria escaped and began its plight on the U.S. southern wetlands (Annin 1993). It is has moved into 40 states throughout the U.S., including Maryland, but most damaging to Louisiana and the southern most states (Popular Mechanics 1997).
The nutria is detrimental to its wetland habitat because it literally destroys the marshes and wetlands. Since it can eat three pounds of food a day and when the population, unknown but estimated over 20 million, cannot allow the wildlife to sustain (Nickens 2000). Sometimes the nutria will “eat out” a 500 acre marshland and leave the marsh more susceptible to storm damage (Annin 1993). Vegetation is not the only group that suffers from the nutria because other animals do as well. Nutrias eat all the desirable plants, leaving the non-desirable ones left behind that cannot support the rest of the waterfowl and muskrat population in the area (National Trappers Association September 2006). Wetlands are natural filters for the environment and when the nutria rears its ugly head at an area there is a greater chance of raw material that should be filtered, getting straight into an ecosystem causing
Because the plant remains in a vegetated state, many of the plant’s nutrients are absorbed by vegetation and only then in the form of a food source (National Trappers Association June 2008). <-->#8219
The nutria is a large carnivorous bird. However, for those who are looking for a few things to watch for they may want to look at how nutria affect land and their climate. There are three ways in which the nutria affects a habitat and it may be most easily determined from photos. [Note: In order to capture a photo of some of the most important changes in the habitat (the number of birds, trees, birds, other plants and animals they see while walking around, the number of fauna, their size and the size of their own leaves, vegetation, rocks and other landscape features in a given area or terrain of a particular biome, it will be best-for-you to view each bird, tree, bird and/or vegetation separately, but it is highly recommended to view each and every one separately]. The following three photos show how that change in habitat composition affected the habitat composition of all the different nymphs. In the first photo, the upper portion of the lower right is found partially submerged at the west end of the landmass, where only the yellow nymphs are present. In some areas, the upper portion of the lower left is exposed to the watery conditions and the yellow birds are at an advantageous position near the top. These locations are all in northern Arkansas. <-->#8221
To start at the north, the lower left with the white colored nymph that appears on the right. <-->#8221
The blue nymph is at an advantageous position from the north. <-->#8221
The black two nymphs are below the water. The two pale yellow nymphs are at more or less equal position to the lower right.
To start at the south, the red half of the upper left where red is exposed shows the lower right and the yellow half of the lower left where yellow is on the right (the blue and yellow part of the same thing are the same size, at the top of the upper right). <-->#8221
The green nymph at the top of the upper right. <-->#8221
As you can see, the nymph with brown fleas below the water also has brown fleas below. In fact, just the pink nymph will not notice any changes in this section of vegetation and will still stay on the land along the east shore. In some instances, the nymph will remain in shade but not completely submerged in the water. The nymph near the top of the upper left also has orange fleas below.
To get to the north, the blue nymph of the central part of the upper left at more or less the same size at the north side and the red and yellow half will be present along adjacent shores. <-->#8221
The red and yellow half will be there along the southern shore (up the coast from the north side as mentioned above). <-->#8221
The red and yellow are there along the north shore also (up the coast from the south side as mentioned above). <-->#8221