Invasive Species

Native

original habitant of an area

Non-native

not an original habitant of an area

Weed

uncultivated species that proliferates in agricultural settings

Naturalized

non-native species adapted to a new environment; established wild population

Invasive

species that are expanding outside their native range and have a demonstrable ecological or economic impact and/or spread aggressively

Can a native species be invasive

it can be invasive after it starts expanding out of its native range

Invasion

a process with distinct stages- transport, introduction, establishment, spread, impact

What traits allow a species to become invasive

method of reproduction, high reproduction, high survival, seed size and type of seed dispersal, stress tolerance, release from enemies, fills an open niche, toxic/poisonous- limits herbivory, predation, opportunistic feeding, nutrient acquisition strategy

Enemy release hypothesis

if you release an organism from predators, they can grow better

Microsatellites

highly repetitive sequences of DNA that mutate rapidly; for population structure, gene flow, genetic diversity

RFLP’s

restriction fragment length polymorphisms; specific sites of DNA that can be cut by restriction enzymes yielding different-sized fragments of DNA; genetic mapping ,detecting mutation, historically used in population studies

DNA sequence data

phylogenetic analysis, gene function, high resolution population genetic