#blocka

Invasive, foreign, alien, upon hearing these words what goes on in your mind? Scary? Creepy? Different? Friend? Foe? These are just random words kept in the abyss of our mind palace. Let’s keep this paper as chill as possible for our readers to comprehend it fully. Well let me tell you something, being different does not necessarily mean that you are a mistake. Being born in the wrong side of the planet doesn’t make you a mistake. Why fit in if you are meant to stand out? Before I babble some nonsense all throughout this paper let me ask you one last question. What makes a species invasive? Wait, this is rhetorical if you are planning to answer it. My point here is that foreign organisms can be seen in two different perspectives, but the bad effects can outweigh the good ones.

A consequence of improvements in the industry and globalization is not only the addition of people but also products, some products are the wildlife as well. This practice of transporting animals, plants, and other organisms from native regions is not new, in fact it has been practiced long before the nativity of our grandparents, it dates thousands of years ago when our ancestors came to existence. The Roman Empire frequently brought back animals from foreign lands to use for entertainment and military purposes. 

In a lot of cases, the transplanted animal or plant does not thrive in its new environment. Given a lot of factors such as lack of proper food combined with inappropriate climate can make for a short lifespan for the organism in its new home. In some case though, the specimen thrives and is able to successfully reproduce and spread in it new habitat. When this case happens, the organism may and can wreak havoc on the new area and become or considered an invasive species.

So why do invasive species pose a threat? Invasive species cause harm to wildlife in many ways. When a new and aggressive species is introduced into an ecosystem, it might not have any natural predators or controls.  It can breed and spread quickly, taking over an area.  Native wildlife may not have evolved defenses against the invader or they cannot compete with a species that has no predators. The direct threats of invasive species: preying on native species, out-competing native species for food or other resources, causing or carrying disease, and preventing native species from reproducing or killing their young. The indirect threats of invasive species: changing food webs, invasive species can change the food web in an ecosystem by destroying or replacing native food sources. The invasive species may provide little to no food value for wildlife. They can also decrease biodiversity; invasive species can alter the abundance or diversity of species that are important habitat for native wildlife. Aggressive plant species like kudzu can quickly replace a diverse ecosystem with a monoculture of just kudzu. Lastly, they can alter ecosystem conditions, some invasive species are capable of changing the conditions in an ecosystem, such as changing soil chemistry or the intensity of wildfires.

Invasive species can also have impacts on human health. For humans, one of the most dangerous effects of invasive alien species is as a carrier of disease. The Asian tiger mosquito has been linked to more than 20 diseases, including yellow fever and chikungunya fever. It has come to Europe mainly through the intercontinental trade in used tires, and is now prevalent in several southern European countries, especially Italy. Climate change projections show that the mosquito will likely extend its range further north in coming years. Climate change is also enabling the spread northward of the common ragweed. The plant is originally from North America, the seeds first coming to Europe in mixes of grain intended as bird feed. It is a powerful trigger of hay fever and other allergies. Changing landscapes are another result of invasive alien species. For example, the red palm weevil is destroying large numbers of palms in the Mediterranean region, transforming the green spaces in cities. There are also effects on ecosystems which indirectly affect humans. In some cases ecosystems altered by invasive alien species may be less able to provide important ‘ecosystem services’ which support human activity. For example, the pollination carried out by honeybees may be affected by invasive alien species – the yellow-legged hornet, native to Asia, has been found to devastate beehives in France. 

                                                                 Death and Life, Gustav Klimt Death has been a taboo topic for most of the human populace. Its obscurity induces fear to most people thus causing them to steer away from the gloom the word brings. Often, death is pertained as the opposite of life, but it is not. Death is a part of life. Death, like life, is everywhere. We can see it in the wilting flowers under the heat of the sun, witness it in the faltering wing of the passing bird, perceive it in the stillness of air as the resident lizard come crashing down from its abode, and so much more. While it is true that the idea of death brings an atmosphere of dread and desolation, death, in some ways, also means rebirth. In fact, death, in biodiversity, has a very big role.

Biodiversity is considered as the “natural biological wealth,” coined as the very support of human existence. Loss of biodiversity also means demise for the human species, or in a larger scale – the ecosystem. Its importance goes to as far as a biological reservoir to a development in the economy. It even extends to medical discoveries, energy resources, provider of food, giver of leisure, and so much more. Given these, it is no wonder that biodiversity is an essential in life. It relates so closely to it that they may be considered as one. In order to conserve this biodiversity, people have come together to protect it, hence, organizations have been formed for the said cause. They have extended the efforts needed for the preservation of the Earth and through this campaigned the maintenance of diversity.

While man-made labor has been extended for the cause, natural factors have never stopped in contributing to the matter in hand, a perfect example would be death. Death is important in maintaining biodiversity because it sustains the balance, leaving a certain ecosystem the way it was before or perhaps so much better.

Naturally, harbingers of death come in the form of old age, predation, and natural disasters. More often than not, natural disasters take a big part of the population or sometimes leave nothing behind. Examples of these natural disasters include volcanic eruptions and forest fires. Volcanic eruption causes destruction to its surroundings almost immediately, what with the hot lava pouring out along with chemicals and fumes that could bring harm to organisms. However, through time and the process of primary succession, recolonization of the said area would begin and set forth a new environment that is more diverse than before which, in turn, give way to a better biodiversity. Forest fires, like the former, obliterate its surroundings thus destroying everything in its wake. They travel at rapid speed and in vast areas often going on for weeks. As this demise cause a great deal of loss in the forest environment, its payback is very much worth it. As the fire subside and dies, it takes along with it the diseased trees and the similar vegetation, it quickens the decaying process, thus allowing the germination of new trees and the restoration of the nutrients to the soil.

One example of this destruction turned rich biodiversity is the infamous eruption of Mt. Krakatoa found in Indonesia in the year 1883. This eruption was considered as one of the deadliest volcanic eruption in modern history contributing to an estimated total of 36, 000 casualties. Due to this explosion, the temperature of the whole planet decreased by 1.2 degrees Celsius and returned to normal 5 years after. Given the very destructive blast, the island where the volcano was situated in was ridden of life. However, three years after the said disaster, when scientists came back to visit the damaged area, the first few signs of life were found. Mosses, algae, flowering plants, and ferns were found in the area. By 1887, signs of young trees were observed. Two years after, insects such as butterflies and beetles were seen. To add the growing population, a single monitor lizard was also seen roaming around the said place. Fast forward to 50 years after the said eruption, the what once was a deserted island became home to 171 species. Years after, it will be reported as a renewed rainforest home to the succession of island biodiversity and advent of the new Krakatau. 

Another example of a beginning in an end is predation. While this sounds a little paradoxical, predators are one of the big factors that contributed to the maintenance of a certain biodiversity. They are the one that manage or place the balance between organisms living in the habitat. Predators are the one that regulate the population of preys thus a decrease in predators may mean an increase of the population of prey which in return might reduce the carrying capacity of the environment they live in. As this population rapidly increase, it would affect the organisms surrounding it resulting to a reduced biodiversity.

                                                               Yellowstone National Park

Example of this relationship is the “wolf effect.” This positive effect to the biodiversity of a place is clearly evident in the situation in Yellowstone National Park. Back in the 1930s, the park’s population of wolves was driven off and with that, the population of elk, the wolves’ main prey, increased. With the absence of their predators, the elks performed too well in the new environment,  being too confident and assured to the fact that no one will be coming for them. Given this case, the elks have opted to settle on only a specific area thus they fed on the young willow, aspen and cottonwood plants that were nearer to their chosen home. This became a problem for the beavers in the said park because they needed the willow for consumption however its number was declining due to the elk. On the year 1995, when the grey wolves were reintroduced to the national park, the ecological effects of the introduced specie were starting to change the condition of the habitat. Due to increased predation, the elks were more cautious thus it was common for them to hide and stay away from the river side where most of their food was. With this, the abundance of the plants in the said area flourished and gave rise to a greener environment. More than that, the beavers who were initially deprived of food had found access to their food back again. Elks had also fed off young trees, with the introduction of the wolves and the attentiveness it brought to the elk population, the young trees were able to grow and prosper because the elk can’t cause much destruction to them anymore. Furthermore, the wolves also increased the number of certain species in the area, particularly animals that are known as scavengers. Due to the fact that wolves leave their prey after getting their fill, scavengers came to prey on these left-overs making them more adaptive to the habitat.

                                  Figure 1.[A]. Final development of bacteria in experiment.

                                   [B] Tracked development of bacteria resistance and growth.

What would you say if we told you that humanity is making a collaborative effort to engineer the perfect superbug. A bug that could kill hundreds of millions of people. Well, it is happening right now. We are in the process of creating a superbacterium.

Shown in picture A. on right is a practical visual representation of antibacterial resistance. This was an experiment where a big Petri plate was constructed. From outward to inward were layers of antibiotics increasing in strength, with no (0) antibiotics placed on the outermost layer, and 1000 strength antibiotic on the innermost layer. In less than 48 hours, bacteria adapted and developed strains resistant to the 1000 strength antibiotics in the middle layer. This is a manifestation of the fears biologists have towards antibiotic resistance of bacteria.

Bacteria are among the oldest living things on this planet; the smallest thing we consider life, they are masters of survival and can be found everywhere. Most bacteria are harmless to us, your body hosts trillions of them and they help us to survive. But others can invade your body, spread quickly, and kill you. Millions of people used to die because of bacterial infections, until we developed a superweapon – antibiotics. Together with vaccinations, antibiotics revolutionized medicine and saved millions of lives. Antibiotics kill the vast majority of susceptible bacteria, leaving a small group of survivors that our immune system then deals with easily.

How do antibiotics do this? Imagine bacteria as a complex machine, with thousands of complex processes that keep it alive and active; antibiotics disrupt with this machinery, for example by interfering with its metabolism, slowing down their growth significantly so they are less of a threat. Other antibiotics attack DNA, which stops bacteria from multiplying, ultimately killing them. Or by simply ripping the outer layer of the bacterium to shreds, so that their insides spill out and they die quickly; all of this without bothering body cells.

But now, evolution is making things more complicated. By pure random chance, a small minority of the bacteria invading your body might have evolved a way to protect themselves. For example, by intercepting the antibiotics and changing the molecule so that it becomes harmless, or by investing energy in pumps that eject the antibiotics before they can do damage. A few immune bacteria are not that big a deal, because the immune system can take care of them. But if they escape, they might spread their immunity.

How can bacteria spread their immunity? First of all, bacteria have two types of DNA, the chromosome, and free floating parts called plasmids. They can hug each other, and exchange useful abilities. This way, immunity can be spread quickly through a population. Or in a process called transformation, bacteria can harvest dead bacteria and collect DNA pieces. This even works between different bacteria species and can lead to superbugs – bacteria that are immune to multiple antibiotics. A variety of superbugs already exist in the world. Especially hospitalare the perfect breeding grounds for them.

Humans have short memories; the horrors of the pre-antibiotic era have been forgotten.

Today, we treat this powerful medicine as a commodity, instead of as a Game Changing achievement of science that it is. This has lead to a strange disconnect. Hundreds of millions of people still don’t have access to antibiotics in developing countries, while in other countries in the world, antibiotics are prescribed too freely and taken without care. Antibiotics should be a last resort drug, not something you take because your cold is annoying. Another serious problem is AB use in meat production. At any particular point in time, humanity holds between 20 and 30 billion animals as live stock. To make meat cheaper, many animals are held in horrible conditions, in very tight spaces, and in unhygienic conditions - the perfect breeding ground for a disease. So many animals are given antibiotics to kill as many antibiotics as possible, and prevent them from getting sick - because a cheeseburger has to cost a dollar. Unsurprisingly, as a result of this system, we have created more and more bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. To counteract this, we use different antibiotics and we have another secret weapon. There are specific antibiotics that are used to wipe out bacteria that have developed resistance. There are strict rules for using these, to avoid the creation of a superbacterium - Or so we thought. In May 2015, scary news arrived from China. Resistance against Collisten, a last resort antibiotic, had been discovered. Collisten is an old drug which was rarely used because it can damage the liver. So there was little resistance against it, which made it a great antibiotic of last resort for certain complex infections that occur in hospitals, to fight bacteria that had become immune to a whole bunch of other drugs. Bacteria resistance to Collisten is very bad news; it might destroy out last line of defense and lead to a whole lot of dead people. How did this happen? Millions of animals in Chinese pig farms have been given Collisten for years. Resistant bacteria developed, spreading first from animal to animal, and then to humans without being noticed.

Biological diversity or biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth. It is the variability of plants, animals, and microorganisms in an ecosystem. It plays a key role in the survival of humans on Earth for it provides basic necessities such as food, medicines, timber, and other raw materials for domestic and industrial purposes. It is also essential in natural processes such as atmospheric regulation, water and nutrient cycling, etc. These services provided by biodiversity are important in maintaining personal and social wellbeing of all people.

However, due to habitat destruction, pollution and climate change, introduction of alien or exotic species, and overpopulation and over consumption of natural resources, there has been a threat in the destruction and loss of biodiversity. The extinction of biodiversity would lead to the extinction of different species here on Earth. It is, therefore, an important task for the people to conserve biodiversity.

To address the concern, people have been developing various conservation strategies including in situ and ex situ methods. These means of conservation are products of biotechnology. Biotechnology is any method that involves the use of scientific and engineering techniques in any biological systems to make or modify a product, or develop and manipulate organisms for specifics purposes. The alteration of genes of various organisms can also raise concerns about the consequences of producing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their introduction to the environment. This type of organisms can cause imbalance in the ecosystem which can lead to decrease in biodiversity. However, advanced methods offered by biotechnology have been helpful in addressing the global concern of rapid biodiversity loss.

Plant Tissue Culture (PTC)

Plant tissue culture or tissue culture is a rapid and efficient in vitro technique in propagating plants through micro-propagation or clonal propagation of plant species. It is an effective method to propagate and to develop a disease-free plant stock.  It also offers an increase in agricultural and industrial productivity, stability, profitability, and sustainability because its techniques have helped in large scale production of plants using cost-efficient methods. Tissue culture techniques can also be applied in germplasm conservation of medicinally-important plants. It can be used in regenerating different disease-free stock of plants for various purposes.

Cryopreservation

Cryopreservation is one of the ex situ plant conservation methods and is applicable for long term storage of genetic materials of plants. This requires cold storage methods of cultured plant materials. However, most plant materials contain high amount of cellular water and are sensitive to freezing injury. Thus, proper and strict handling techniques should be done to protect the genetic information of these plant materials. Methods of conserving these include several steps such as freezing, storage, thawing, reculture of living plant cells during cryopreservation. Strict maintenance of cultures is also followed to ensure that the plant materials are retained when re-warmed. This method of preservation is extremely helpful in conserving rare, and endangered plant species. However, cryopreservation only allows 20 percent increase in regeneration process compared to other conservation methods.

Gene Banks

DNA banks or gene banks are simple, efficient, and long term methods in conserving genetic resources for biodiversity. DNA banking is one of the conventional ex situ approaches in preserving biodiversity. It is more effective in lessening the risk of exposing genetic information compared to other traditional methods of storing plant species. It only requires small sample size for storage and is capable of storing DNA and keeping its state. This technique has been enhanced with the advances in our technology.

Conclusion