Newman Library exhibit explores dangers of invasive species

research 1:29 Newman Library exhibit explores dangers of invasive species

By:

Renee Flores

7 Mar 2025 52

Invasive Species — A Global Dilemma is an exhibit found on the second floor of Newman Library. The exhibit showcases the impact of non-native organisms on local ecosystems, highlighting their environmental, health, and economic effects. It emphasizes the importance of awareness and provides resources to help prevent the spread of invasive species.

Invasive species are introduced organisms to an environment, so they are non native to an area, and it's really important we consider the types of impacts that they have, and they're always going to be negative. So they're going to be negative impacts to the environment, to human health or from an economic perspective. To decide on all the content that went into the exhibit, I worked very closely with the Invasive Species Collaborative, which is the research group here, at Virginia Tech. We have a lot of different organisms that are highlighted at this exhibit. We have plants. Invasive insects. We also have some large examples as well, such as feral hogs. And invasive pathogens. We hope by having exhibits like this and by also having tabling events and educational resources available that people will one, learn about the problem, understand the problem, and recognize that they can take action to help prevent the spread of invasive species. One thing I always keep in mind when designing exhibits is that I hope that people who may never encounter this type of topic do end up encountering it here in the library. Perhaps they come through and they see this and it inspires them in some way. I hope the visitors feel empowered to take some actions when they are able. There are some resources highlighted here that will help you identify invasive species when you encounter them in the wild. There are also some resources that will help you prevent the spread of invasive species.