Hi Mike and everyone,

Swintosky, Michael D. wrote:

"Tom quite rightly points out a problem in my statement above.  My
intended
meaning was in reference to a new species that becomes established.
Merely
introducing a species that quickly dies out will not likely create
any
significant ripples in the environment.  A species that becomes
established
occupies a permanent niche, generally displacing something in the
process
and offering new opportunities for the environment as a whole."

Again Mike most exotic species that get established cause no
observable harm to the environment.  Examples include rainbow trout (
steelhead ) in the great lakes states USA and brown trout in North
America.  A few exotic species do cause major environmental harm but
it is not so simple as exotic = bad and native = good.
If honey bees caused such great harm to native pollinators here in
USA we would not have the native pollinator populations we do have.
Also nobody has mentioned that our native pollinators have their pests
and diseased which tend to limit their population buildup to some
extent if we try to increase their numbers in an area.  Native
pollinators have their place in production of certian crops but they
will never replace honey bees which we can move in by the millions to
pollinate a crop and take them out of the area once the crop is set.


blane






******************************************
Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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