Spartina species, bright green in color, are aquatic grasses that live in the mudflats and marshes of coastal areas. The plants tend to grow in circular clumps called ‘clones’. Spartina is native to the East coast, which provides a wetland habitat for animals and plants. In addition, spartina’s roots stop soil from being washed away in the tide. However, the students at Lincoln Elementary school in Mount Vernon, Washington, want to get rid of it. They think spartina on the West Coast is a stranger because it has turned into a life-choking weed.
Why is Spartina good on the East Coast but bad on the West Coast? On the East Coast, the sun helps spartina grow and spartina is the food resource for ducks, geese, or fish; therefore, spartina doesn’t overgrow. But when spartina grows with the sun in the West, there are no animals eating spartina, therefore, spartina outgrows without control. Specifically, spartina crowds out native plants with its thick clumps. The roots of spartina clogs up all the mud, which causes the change for the shape of the mud flats. Spartina then forces crabs, snails, salmon, and shorebirds to leave their home because of less food to eat. In other words, the food chain of spartina is balanced on the East Coast but broken on the West Coast.
How is spartina introduced to the West Coast from the East Coast? Back to the late 1800s, settlers wanted to raise oysters in the West so they packed the oysters in wet spartina to keep them fresh. After the oysters landed in new beds, the seed of spartina started to sprout. Also, to catch more ducks, duck hunters planted spartina to attract ducks. Similarly, engineers planted spartina to keep soil from washing away as well as farmers planted spartina to feed their cattle. Obviously, spartina got to the West Coast by humans and it was used like a tool to do the planned jobs.
The students at Lincoln Elementary school in Mount Vernon, Washington, begin to take action. The students divide themselves into three groups and work as a team. The first group does research about Padilla Bay. Based on the information from the first group, the second group draws pictures of spartina and its negative effects on the shore. The third group worked to spread the message about spartina to the public. Last but not least, all the students write letters to ask help from the state lawmakers. All these students worked together to get rid of spartina, the invasive species, for saving Washington’s Puget Sound.
Spartina naturally lives on the East Coast which provides food and habitat for animals and plants. The animals there eat spartina so the spartina is under control and the food chain of spartina is stable. However, when people bring spartina to the West Coast, there are no animals to eat spartina so spartina is out of control of growing, suggesting that the food chain is broken. From this article, we can learn scientific knowledge: the food chain needs to keep going otherwise the ecosystem will be unbalanced. Food chains play an important role in ecosystems. When people want to introduce a new species of animal or plant, they need to do research first to see if the new species will damage the environment’s food chain or make the ecosystem collapse.
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