Subject:
Applied Science, Life Science, Biology
Material Type:
Module
Level:
Community College / Lower Division, College / Upper Division
Provider:
Rice University
Provider Set:
OpenStax College
Tags:
  • Age Structure
  • Aggressive Display
  • Batesian Mimicry
  • Behavioral Biology
  • Biodiversity
  • Biotic Potential
  • Birth Rate
  • Carrying Capacity
  • Classical Conditioning
  • Climax Community
  • Cognitive Learning
  • Commensalism
  • Community Ecology
  • Community Structure
  • Community Succession
  • Competitive Exclusion
  • Competitive Exclusion Principle
  • Conditioned Behavior
  • Courtship Display
  • Death Rate
  • Defense Mechanism
  • Demography
  • Density-dependent Growth
  • Density-dependent Regulation
  • Density-independent Growth
  • Density-independent Regulation
  • Distraction Display
  • Early Reproduction
  • Emsleyan/Mertensian Mimicry
  • Energy Budget
  • Environmental Adaptation
  • Environmental Disturbance
  • Ethology
  • Exponential Growth
  • Fecundity
  • Fixed Action Pattern
  • Foraging
  • Foundation Species
  • Habituation
  • Herbivory
  • Host
  • Human Carrying Capacity
  • Human Population
  • Human Population Growth
  • Imprinting
  • Innate Behavior
  • Intersexual Selection
  • Interspecific Competition
  • Intrasexual Selection
  • Intraspecific Competition
  • Island Biogeography
  • Iteroparity
  • J-shaped Growth Curve
  • K-selected Species
  • Keystone Species
  • Kin Selection
  • Kinesis
  • Late Reproduction
  • Learned Behavior
  • Life History
  • Life History Pattern
  • Life Table
  • Logistic Growth
  • Mark and Recapture
  • Migration
  • Monogamy
  • Mortality Rate
  • Mullerian Mimicry
  • Mutualism
  • One-Child Policy
  • Operant Conditioning
  • Overpopulation
  • Parasite
  • Parasitism
  • Parental Care
  • Pioneer Species
  • Polyandry
  • Polygyny
  • Population Demography
  • Population Density
  • Population Distribution
  • Population Dynamics
  • Population Ecology
  • Population Model
  • Population Regulation
  • Population Research
  • Population Size
  • Predation.
  • Primary Succession
  • Quadrat
  • R-selected Species
  • Reflex Action
  • Relative Species Abundance
  • S-shaped Growth Curve
  • Secondary Succession
  • Semelparity
  • Signal
  • Sociobiology
  • Species Distribution
  • Species Distribution Pattern
  • Species Richness
  • Survivorship Curve
  • Symbiosis
  • Symbiotic Relationship
  • Taxis
  • Zero Population Growth
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
    Language:
    English

    Introduction

    Introduction

    Main photo shows fish jumping out of the water, and inset photo shows a pile of dead fish in a container.
    Asian carp jump out of the water in response to electrofishing. The Asian carp in the inset photograph were harvested from the Little Calumet River in Illinois in May, 2010, using rotenone, a toxin often used as an insecticide, in an effort to learn more about the population of the species. (credit main image: modification of work by USGS; credit inset: modification of work by Lt. David French, USCG)

    Imagine sailing down a river in a small motorboat on a weekend afternoon; the water is smooth and you are enjoying the warm sunshine and cool breeze when suddenly you are hit in the head by a 20-pound silver carp. This is a risk now on many rivers and canal systems in Illinois and Missouri because of the presence of Asian carp.

    This fish—actually a group of species including the silver, black, grass, and big head carp—has been farmed and eaten in China for over 1000 years. It is one of the most important aquaculture food resources worldwide. In the United States, however, Asian carp is considered a dangerous invasive species that disrupts community structure and composition to the point of threatening native species.