Invasive species

prefLabel
  • Invasive Species
definition
  • Invasive species are alien species whose introduction does or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.
inScheme
broader
Abstract from DBPedia
    An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web – for example the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) which has decimated kelp forests along the northern California coast due to overharvesting of its natural predator, the California sea otter (Enhydra lutris). Since the 20th century, invasive species have become a serious economic, social, and environmental threat. Invasion of long-established ecosystems by organisms is a natural phenomenon, but human-facilitated introductions have greatly increased the rate, scale, and geographic range of invasion. For millennia, humans have served as both accidental and deliberate dispersal agents, beginning with their earliest migrations, accelerating in the age of discovery, and accelerating again with international trade. Notable examples of invasive plant species include the kudzu vine, Andean pampas grass, English ivy, Japanese knotweed, and yellow starthistle. Examples of invasive animals include the New Zealand mud snail, feral pig, European rabbit, grey squirrel, domestic cat, carp, and ferret. Some popular reference sources now name Homo sapiens, especially modern-age humans, as an invasive species, but broad appreciation of human learning capacity and their behavioral potential and plasticity argues against any such fixed categorization.

    外来種(がいらいしゅ)とは、もともとその地域にいなかったのに、人為的に他の地域から入ってきた生物のこと。アレロパシーが強い植物など、その一部は生態系や経済に重大な影響を与えることがあり、環境問題のひとつとして扱われる。 類義語に移入種、帰化種、侵入種、外来生物がある。英語では「alien species」もしくは「invasive species」という。ただし「invasive`species」については、在来種(後述)でありながら、人為的な影響によって分布域の爆発的な拡大や生息(生育)数が激増し、 生物多様性および生態系サービスへ悪影響を及ぼしている種に対して「native invasive」という呼び方もする場合もあり、英語表記において最も誤解が少ないのは「Invasive Alien Species」である。 外来種に対し、従来からその地域で生息・生育するものは在来種と呼ばれる。在来種は、環境に害を与えていない場合が多い。

    (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Invasive_species)