Native and Non-Native In the Anthropocene

Abstract

Anthropogenic, human caused, impacts on the environment are not just widespread but are also always interacting and synergizing off of each other. Global temperature rise, which has its own immediate effects, causes species ranges to shift both across a map and vertically in elevation. It additionally causes a type of range shift temporarily where the phenology, timing of life events, of certain species drift from other species within their ecosystem as well as causing dramatic population changes. Deforestation’s effects are felt across the world, as well as the effects of habitat fragmentation and the increasing prevalence of edge effects. All of these disturbances combine to worsen the effect of and/or facilitate the spread of pest species. Many of these pest species are non-native and invasive, although the distinctions in categories can be blurry, inconsistent and economically driven rather than scientifically. Although humans (homo sapien) have altered ecosystems and species composition throughout history, the modern form of this takes on a new level. As we grapple with understanding the scope of anthropogenic impact on the world in the present, future and past, the standards of invasion must be altered considering the severity of anthropogenic modification to the planet.