Invasive species — Science definition
Defined in 2 courses:
- A non-native species that spreads rapidly in a new ecosystem because it lacks the predators, diseases, or competitors that limited it back home. (Life Science: Biology)
- A non-native species that spreads rapidly in a new range and harms native species, often because it has no natural predators, parasites, or competitors there to keep it in check. (Physics & Environmental Science)
Where it is taught
- Human Impact & Conservation — Ecosystems & Conservation Decisions, Life Science: Biology, Grade 10
- Biodiversity Loss — Conservation, Systems & Environmental Design, Physics & Environmental Science, Grade 12
In use
Another biological pressure involves harmful invasive species.
Human Impact & Conservation
Other pressures include overharvest, pollution, climate change, and invasive species.
Biodiversity Loss
Questions using invasive species
Problem 1
- Native species immediately go extinct on their own
- They arrive without the predators, diseases, and competitors that limited them back home
- They can survive without any energy source
- New ecosystems always have unlimited resources
Answer and explanation
They arrive without the predators, diseases, and competitors that limited them back home
Without their usual limiting factors, invasive populations can grow explosively and outcompete native species.
Problem 2
- it reproduces more slowly
- its usual predators, parasites, and competitors are absent
- it needs no resources
- it cannot reproduce
Answer and explanation
its usual predators, parasites, and competitors are absent
Released from the species that limited it in its native range, an introduced population can grow quickly and outcompete local species.
Problem 3
- a non-native species that spreads rapidly in a new area and harms native species
- any large predator at the top of a food chain
- a native species that has lived in an ecosystem for thousands of years
- any species that is currently close to extinction
Answer and explanation
a non-native species that spreads rapidly in a new area and harms native species
Invasive species are non-natives that, lacking natural predators or competitors in the new range, spread out of control and damage native populations.
Taught alongside
- biodiversity
- greenhouse gas
- habitat fragmentation
- sustainability
- conservation
- extinction
- ecosystem services