Professor introduces the hazards of environmental traps

Photo by Ed Garcia/Creative Commons

Jessica Valeria Rodriguez/Staff Writer

Most people are aware that by cutting a tree we are taking away a bird’s home; this is one of many commonly known destructions created by humans. Jennifer Schopf Rehage, Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environment, recently co-authored an article about a new way that we are causing harm to animals that needs to end.

The phenomenon is called environmental traps, which are traps we place when we take over habitats and bring in new factors like species that don’t belong there or taking their food. This causes the native animals to settle for worse food, mates and habitats that prevent them from undergoing natural selection of the best of each species.

Rehage explains that organisms are accustomed to making decisions based on what they think looks good; they have yet to realize that some things are human-induced and won’t help them. If they don’t learn how to differentiate quickly, it could lead to population declines. Multiple animals will be affected, including mammals, birds, amphibians, fishes, reptiles and insects. She also encourages for something to be done about these traps as they have a possible fix and are not very difficult to tackle. We merely need to change our ways so that animals can tell the difference between a Christmas light decoration and dinner.

In her faculty page, Rehage states, “I am an aquatic ecologist and my research interests are focused on the study of how anthropogenic disturbance alters the nature of key ecological processes and mechanisms.” Rehage has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from FIU and a Ph.D. in ecology, evolution and behavior from the University of Kentucky.

Junior biology major Carlos Nogues has shown interest in Rehage’s class and plans to take it in the fall. “Her work is very interesting. Evolutionary traps are becoming a problem, especially in our area where invasive species are damaging the Everglades.”

Nougues shares this interest with his younger sister, sophomore public relations major Karina Nougues. “I’m not an expert on science, but her study makes a lot of sense. Instead of trying to fix global warming, we should focus on fixing these traps because they are more doable tasks,” she said.

The paper was published in the scientific journal “Trends in Ecology and Evolution” last month. It is the first to provide a comprehensive review and present a framework for predicting the defenselessness of an organism to being trapped. If you are interested in reading the article, it is titled “Ecological novelty and the emergence of evolutionary traps.”

 jessica.rodriguez@fiusm.com

Be the first to comment on "Professor introduces the hazards of environmental traps"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*