Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010: Indicator #07, Invasive Species (Human-induced)

As humans and their goods and services have become increasingly mobile, so too have the intended and unintended movements of species. In many cases, the intended benefits of species movement (food, fiber, recreation) have been realized. In other cases, both unintentional and intentional introductions have had harmful results. The term “invasive species” is used here to reflect this latter situation and refers to species that are not native to a given ecosystem (i.e., when a species is present due to an intentional or unintentional escape, release, dissemination, or placement into that ecosystem as a result of human activity) and which may cause economic or environmental harm (including harm to subsistence species and activities) or which may cause harm to human health. It should be noted that some nonnative species considered to pose no invasive threat may exhibit explosive population growth long after their initial establishment in a new environment, leading to invasive impacts, despite initially being considered benign