Abstract:
Since kudzu, the so-called “plant that ate the South,†was introduced in the 1930s, other non-native fish, animals and plants are beginning to make their presence known in North Carolina. Many of the plants are Asian in origin and include Chinese silvergrass and Chinese privet. Other invasives include hydrilla and giant salvinia. Plants spread to open lands and clog waterways. Once established, they are almost impossible to remove mechanically. Fishermen sometimes move fish from one area to another in hopes of creating a new fishery, and in so doing, often create a new problem. Jenkins discusses this problem of invasives and their affect on the composition of the state's flora and fauna over the next fifty to one hundred years.