Similarly, organisms latch onto ship hulls or hide within wooden packing crates. Even gardening choices play a role, as popular ornamental plants can escape cultivation, spread via bird droppings, and outcompete native flora in adjacent fields and forests.
Infrastructure Pathways: How Invasive Species Travel Through Global Systems
Invisible to the naked eye, a single spore, seed, or microscopic larva can ride the wind, cling to a boot, or stow away in a shipping container, beginning a journey that may forever alter an ecosystem. The consequences are immediate and devastating, as introduced species find fertile ground in ecosystems with no natural predators or competitors.
Birds consume fleshy fruits and later deposit the seeds in their droppings, often far from the parent tree and in nutrient-rich conditions ideal for germination. Even larger animals, such as mammals crossing a river or a mountain range, can transport seeds or small invertebrates on their hides or in their digestive tracts, extending a species' range by miles with each journey.
Infrastructure Pathways: How Invasives Hitch Rides on Global Goods
Stowaways in Global Commerce The global economy relies on the movement of goods, and invasive species are expert stowaways in this system. Ballast water from ships, taken on in one port and discharged in another, is a notorious vector, releasing plankton, fish, and microbes into new marine environments.
More About How invasive species spread
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