Barbara Spring reads from The Dynamic Great Lakes

LowerGreatLakes  Click the link to hear me read from my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes

Invasive species: purple loosestrife

Wetlands are very important.  The native species of plants help prevent floods and filter out pollutants. They also are nurserys for birds and fish.  Pictured is a wetland with an invasive species: purple loosestrife.  This plant does not belong in Great Lakes wetlands because it takes over and native species are crowded out.  Read more about invasive species in the Great Lakes in my book: The Dynamic Great Lakes.  The book is widely available at bn.com, Amazon.com and many other fine bookstores.

The importance of wetlands and marshes

Wetlands and marshes are vital to the health of rivers and lakes.  They nurture small fish, birds and dragonflies.  Dragonflies feed upon mosquitoes.  Redwing blackbirds balance on cattails and call chirringly.  Eagles and hawks survey from trees and the sky.  Sand hill cranes do their dances then hatch young.  The great blue heron calls from a tree where he has landed. Geese, swans and ducks play in the marsh.   Turtles, snakes, frogs and toads may live partly on land and partly in water.    We hardly know they are there until evening when the toads sing their whirligig songs and the frogs sing their love songs.

Pictured is a swan on her nest hidden among cat tails at Ludington State Park.

Some people may think wetlands are worthless but the plants in them filter pollution and help prevent floods by acting as a sponge.

Purple Loosestrife: an invasive

Over 180 invasive species have entered the Great Lakes and their wetlands.  Pictured is purple loosestrife, a European plant that will take over a wetland like the Mafia takes over a neighborhood.

 Native species do not stand a chance against it.  Wetlands serve as natural filters for pollutants and help prevent floods.  The species of plants that evolved around the Great Lakes serve an important purpose in their ecology. 

Read more on this topic in my book, The Dynamic Great Lakes.