Invasive
Species
Donna Marie Tan
Sarah Jane Toledo
What are “Invasive Species”?
• The term “invasive species” is often
said to be ‘ambiguous’ (Codman, 2005).
- “An introduced species that out-competes native
species for space and resources. Scotch Broom is
an invasive species that out-competes local
vegetation and results in a monoculture, and hence
a decrease in local diversity. “
-oceanlink.island.net/glossary.html
What are “Invasive Species”?
“An invasive species is a species occurring, as
a result of human activities, beyond its
accepted normal distribution and which
threatens valued environmental, agricultural
or other social resources by the damage it
causes.”
-http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/
What are “Invasive Species”?
Stage Characteristic
1 Propagates, residing in a
“donor” region
2 Traveling
3 Introduced
4 Localized and numerically
rare
5 Widespread but rare
6 Localized but dominant
7 Widespread and dominant
How do these species get to
certain places?
Species sometimes are
• Imported by people
• Accidentally wanders to a certain place
How do these species get to
certain places?
• Examples of invasive species
Kudzu, a Japanese
species invasive in
the southeast
United States,
growing in Atlanta,
Georgia
• Examples of invasive species
Brown Tree Snake
Pied Currawong
• Species-based mechanisms -
Species-based characteristics focus on competition.
While all species compete to survive, invasive
species appear to have specific traits or
combinations of specific traits that allow them to
outcompete native species
• Ecosystem-based mechanisms - Some
invading species are able to fill niches that are not
utilized by native species, and they also can create
niches that did not exist.
What Threats Do Invasive Species
Impose on the Environment?
Invasive species may negatively impact
native species in a number of ways.
These include competition and
predation with the native species,
interbreeding and introduction of
pathogens and parasites that sicken
or kill the native species.
What Threats Do Invasive Species
Impose on the Environment?
• Threats to native species
• Agricultural Impacts
• Impact on Forestry
• Impact on Fisheries
• Impact on Water-systems
• Impact on Human Health
• Genetic ‘Pollution’ or Uncontrolled
Hybridization’
What has to be Done
• Prevention is the single best way to limit
impacts of nonnative species
• Eradication may be feasible early in an
invasion or in a restricted area
• Containment is an important tool to
reduce the impact of existing invaders.
Strategies for containment generally
combine tools used in prevention and
eradication
• Control methods can include any of the
following:
– Chemical
– Mechanical
– Biological
• Restoration of native communities is an
important step to minimize the chances an
area will be reinvaded. Many control
techniques inherently create disturbance,
which may increase the vulnerability of an
area to subsequent invaders
References
• Article on ‘Invasive Species’
• source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasive_species
• Ecological Society of America. Handout on Invasive Species
(2004)
• www.esa.org/education/edupdfs/invasion.pdf. Retrieved on
July 3, 2008.
• Pimentel, D.; R. Zuniga and D., Morrison (2005). "Update on the
environmental and economic costs associated with alien-
invasive species in the United States.". Ecological Economics
52: 273–288.
• Colautti, Robert I.; MacIsaac, Hugh J. (2004), “A neutral
terminology to define 'invasive' species”, Diversity and
Distributions 10: 135–141, doi:10.1111/j.1366-
9516.2004.00061.x,
<http://planet.botany.uwc.ac.za/nisl/Invasives/Assignment1/Col
auttiandMacIsaac.pdf>. Retrieved on 2008-08-01
