Invasive species

An Invasive species is an organism that is not indigenous/ native to its environment. 

Invasive species can be a plant, animal or insect. Invasive species can be harmful to the
enviroment and costly.
 Worst Invasive Species :

Has been responible for the extinction of over 8 different mamals .Has been detremental to
a variety of species in Great lakes region .Has caused the extinction of certain birds, plants
and small mammals has done millions of dollars worth of destruction done to property and
farmland
Invasive insects

 Invasive insects:
 Can also cause drastic changes habitat
 Can endanger animal species. For example certain insects eat other insects that
could be food for birds or small rodents
 Can spread unique geographical diseases

Asian Tiger Mosquito

Originates in southern and eastern asia

 First seen in 1985 in Houston Texas Known for aggressive biting

1. Invasive Animals :

Invasive animals are often introduce to an area for the purpose of pest
control.
Invasive animals are hard to predict and ultimately become a problem themselves
For example five cats were brought to South Africa for a mouse problem. Five cats
turned into 3400 cats and endangered the bird population.

Invasive plants:

Usually come From overseas and are usually exotic looking or have unique
qualities. Such as Drought intolerance or are extremely fast growing.
They can be dangerous to native plants and search and kill other plants. (example
mile-a-minute, purple loosestrife, and kudzu)
They reproduce in high numbers and spread very extensively and well.
100 million dollars spent to control invasive plants.

Types of invasive plant :

 GOOD
 Wheat
 Tomatoes
 Rice
BAD
 Lythrum salicaria
 Ailanthus altissima

exotic species :

Exotic species are those that have been intentionally or unintentionally introduced by

humans into an ecosystem in which they did not evolve.
Such introductions probably occur frequently as natural phenomena.
For example, Kudzu (Pueraria lobata), which is native to Japan, was introduced in the
United States in 1876.
In biology, an exotic species refers to a plant species or an animal species that is non-
native. It is introduced into an area where it does not occur naturally. The introduction of
the species may be deliberate or accidental. It is not always considered a nuisance or
invasive.
The presence of an exotic species may have a significant effect on the local ecosystem.
The ecological impact varies; it may generally bring adverse effects to the ecological
balance in an ecosystem or it may be beneficial. At other times, the effect is not too
significant to cause major changes in the ecosystem.
 
Synonyms: introduced species; alien species; foreign species; non-native species; non-
indigenous species.