![\"Our](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/files\/2017\/05\/IMG_1903.jpg\")
<\/a>Our group on the last day of our community project<\/p><\/div> Written by: Britiny, class of 2019, Biology major Poem from an environmentalist…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":5229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_prepend":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_append":false,"_batesModPostContentOverride_append_before_footer":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5230,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5228\/revisions\/5230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPoem from an environmentalist perspective highlighting the importance of containing the problem of Paspalum vaginatum<\/em> (an invasive grass also called kikuyo), on the ecosystem of Isabela, one of the enchanted islands of the Galapagos Archipelago.
\nBy: Brit
\nWhat does it mean to be invasive\u2026Unwanted? Problematic?
\nFestering like a cancer, malignant and tragic
\nSucking the life out of the native land and all its dependents
\nInvasive species are like bullies that get away with torturing innocents,
\nImagine never being able to see flamingos in the Galapagos because kikuyo destroyed the marsh
\nNever seeing their lush vibrant pink plumage because new conditions are too harsh
\nOr never getting to see the stilts gracefully roaming the waters in search of prey
\nThese native species are endangered in the Archipelago this month of May
\nIntroduced for livestock, by ranchers who may have been na\u00efve
\nIgnorant of potential destruction of habitats\u2026that\u2019s hard to believe
\nKikuyo dries out the wetlands, drinking up the brackish water
\nPushing out the endemics, no room for a barter
\nWetlands are nesting areas for various wildlife, they also protect the shore
\nThey\u2019re important for the birds, filtering water and more
\nConservation is tough because herbicides and pesticides are bad
\nBut us Batesies got to help slow the spread of kikuyo, which I think is totally rad!!!
\nIt will grow back eventually, so pointless to some is how it may seem
\nBut only that area is sacrificed, it\u2019s like \u2018taking one for the team\u2019
\nI\u2019m happy to help, though the work was tough
\nIt\u2019s gratifying to try to protect, but will it ever be enough?
\nI hope that our efforts weren\u2019t in vein
\nBecause our project is over now, only two days left before returning to Maine!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"