SPECIAL ASPECTS OF ENVIRONMENT RESULTING FROM VARIOUS KINDS OF NUCLEAR WARS. PART II, APPENDIX 1-2. HISTORICAL EXAMPLES OF ECOLOGICAL DISASTER (II),
Abstract
The giant African snail (A. fulica) and the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are life forms that have been introduced by man to regions outside their native habitats, where, unchecked by natural controls obtaining in their original environment, they proliferated and spread with disastrous effect to ecological balance in the invaded areas. In these two historic instances the catastrophe is measured chiefly as economic loss manifested in two ways: directly, in the destruction of crops on which humans depend for food or income; indirectly, by the creation of eroded lands unsuitable for pasturage or tillage and costly to restore to fertility, and in the cost of attempts to control the pest. These episodes furnish illustrations of some of the grim economic problems which can arise from an altered ecological balance, in these cases directly attributable to man's impact on the biological environment. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 08, 1964
- Accession Number
- AD0433784
Entities
People
- Jean M. Ingersoll