How will exotic wildlife and invasive plants be impacted?
Invasive plant and wildlife species are often more aggressive and do a better job than native species at defending themselves in their new host environment. Already stressed native species, could be pushed over the threshold into extinction without careful management and monitoring of all nonnative species. Predictions show invasive species spreading at an accelerated rate with warmer temperatures and altered rainfall and humidity patterns associated with climate change. However, climate change also means extreme weather conditions and in Florida during the winter months of 2010, extreme cold temperatures lingered in South Florida and decimated populations of exotic wildlife, such as the Burmese python and the green iguana, that could not survive the extreme fluctuation of colder temperatures. Invasive plant species also were severely cut back during the cold spell. It is imperative that proactive monitoring, collaborative partnerships, public outreach and education and political suppo
