Are All Exotic Species Invasive?
No, actually only a small percent of the introduced species ever become invasive. However, it is nearly impossible to predict which species will become invasive and new species are being introduced every day. Some species have been introduced for many years before becoming invasive. These are thought to go through a “lag phase” in which their populations grow slowly until they reach a size large enough for the population to explode and become invasive. Chinese privet is a good example of this in the Southeast. Chinese privet has been in the Southeast for many years but until recently its population remained at low numbers. Now it is a serious invasive species, found throughout nearly all of the Southeast. What type of harm do invasive species cause? Since invasive species are in a new environment, free from the natural predators, parasites, or competitors of their native habitats, they often have very high population sizes. These large populations can out-compete and displace native sp
