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Management of Invasive Species
(An invasive rodent, the Cuban hutia.)
A native species is one that occupies the same area where it existed before the arrival of humans. On the other hand an exotic species exists outside its normal range because of some type of human activity (Conover 2000). Exotic species, also known as alien, nonnative, nonindigenous, or introduced species, are found throughout North America and the world.
Eventually, some introduced species become invasive, defined as nonnative species which cause substantial economic or ecological harm. Examples of invasive species are monk parakeets, starlings, pigeons, brown treesnakes, Caribbean frogs, nutria, house mice, feral pigs, and feral dogs. Some invasive species are stowaways on ships, planes and other forms of transportation, e.g., rats, house mice, and brown treesnakes. Some introductions are intentional for aesthetic, economic, recreational, food, or biological control reasons. Some birds and other wildlife simply escape or are released from captive populations. The United States has at least 221 nonnative terrestrial vertebrate species, of which about 20 species of invasive mammals have become established. About 97 of 1,000 bird species in the country are nonnative and 56% are considered pests. Hawaii alone has 35 introduced species. Several of the approximately 53 amphibian and reptile species introduced in the United States are invasive, all in southern states and Hawaii (Pimental et al. 2000)
*Invasive species discussion from Fagerstone (2003) unless noted otherwise