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- Info
Plant invaders: How non-native species invade & degrade natural areas
| Author: |
Randall, John M. |
| Date: |
1996 |
| Periodical: |
In: Randall, John M.; Marinelli, Janet , eds. Inavsive Plants: Weeds of the Global Garden. Handbook No. 149. Broklyn, NY: Broklyn Botanic Garden Publications |
| Abstract: |
Change in plant ommunities is natural. New species move in as the climate changes and as soils build up and become richer or erode and become less fertile. The arrival of new species may be the result of a single catastrophic event like a hurricane, or of gradual change over thousands of years. Humans have vastly accelerated the movement of plants, carrying thousands of species that could not have crossed natural barriers like oceans, mountain ranges and deserts to new areas. Species that have flourished and spread on their own only after people transported them across barriers they could not otherwise surmount are considered non-natives. In many areas these plants have overwhelmed the native plants and animals. Non-native species are responsible for most damaging invasions, but a far smaller number of natives also have invaded and degraded new habitats. |
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