UPSC Civil Services Model Paper 2

● Common characteristics of Invasive alien species include rapid reproduction and growth, high dispersal ability, phenotypic plasticity (ability toadapt physiologically to new conditions), and ability to survive on various food types and in a wide range of environmental conditions .
● A good predictor of invasiveness is whether a species has successfully or unsuccessfully invaded elsewhere.
● An invasive species can be any kind of living organism—an amphibian (like the cane toad), plant, insect, fish, fungus, bacteria, or even an organism’sseeds or eggs—that is not native to an ecosystem and causes harm.
● They can harm the environment, the economy, or even human health.
Species that grow and reproduce quickly, and spread aggressively, with potential tocause harm, are given the label “invasive.”
● An invasive species does not have to come from another country. For example, lake trout are native to the Great Lakes, but are considered to be aninvasive species in Yellowstone Lake in Wyoming because they compete with native cutthroat trout for habitat.