In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history.[
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A wild organism (as opposed to a domestication organism) is known as an introduced species within the regions where it was anthropogenically introduced.
A native species in a location is not necessarily also endemism to that location. Endemic species are exclusively found in a particular place.[ A native species may occur in areas other than the one under consideration. The terms endemic and native also do not imply that an organism necessarily first originated or evolution where it is currently found.][
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Notion
The notion of nativity is often a blurred concept, as it is a function of both time and political boundaries.[ Over long periods of time, local conditions and migratory patterns are constantly changing as tectonic plates move, join, and split. Natural climate change (which is much slower than climate change) changes sea level, ice cover, temperature, and rainfall, driving direct changes in habitability and indirect changes through the presence of predators, competitors, food sources, and even oxygen levels. Species do naturally appear, reproduce, and endure, or become extinct, and their distribution is rarely static or confined to a particular geographic location.
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Moreover, the distinction between native and non-native as being tied to a local occurrence during History times has been criticised as lacking perspective, and a case was made for more graded categorisations such as that of prehistoric natives, which occurred in a region during prehistory but have since suffered local extinction there due to human involvement.
Ecology
Native species form communities and biological interactions with other specific flora, fauna, fungi, and other organisms. For example, some plant species can only reproduce with a continued mutualistic interaction with a certain animal pollination, and the pollinating animal may also be dependent on that plant species for a food source. Many species have adapted to very limited, unusual, or harsh conditions, such as cold climates or frequent .
Human impact and intervention
The diversity of species across many parts of the world exists only because are separated by barriers, particularly large , , , , and . Humans can introduce species that have never met in their history, on varying time scales ranging from days to decades (Long, 1981; Vermeij, 1991). Humans are moving species across the globe at an unprecedented rate. Those working to address invasive species view this as an increased risk to native species.
As humans introduce species to new locations for cultivation, or transport them by accident, some of them may become invasive species, damaging native communities. Invasive species can have profound effects on ecosystems by changing ecosystem structure, function, species abundance, and community composition.[ "Point Reyes National Seashore, Drakes Estero, A Sheltered Wilderness Estuary", National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, p. 16.] Besides ecological damage, these species can also damage agriculture, infrastructure, and cultural assets. Government agencies and environmental groups are directing increasing resources to addressing these species.
Conservation and advocacy
Native plant organizations such as the Society for Ecological Restoration, native plant societies,
Many books have been written on the subject of planting native plants in home gardens. The use of derived from native species is a widely disputed practice among native plant advocates.
Importance of nativity in conservation
When ecological restoration projects are undertaken to restore a native ecological system disturbed by economic development or other events, they may be historically inaccurate, incomplete, or pay little or no attention to ecotype accuracy or type conversions.[ Travis Longcore, Rudi Mattoni, Gordon Pratt, and Catherine Rich, "On the perils of ecological restoration and the El Segundo blue butterfly", in press, for 2nd Interface Between Ecology and Land Development in California. Occidental College, April 18-19, 1997 Online.] They may fail to restore the original ecological system by overlooking the basics of remediation. Attention paid to the historical distribution of native species is a crucial first step to ensure the ecological integrity of the project. For example, to prevent erosion of the recontoured sand at the western edge of the Los Angeles International Airport in 1975, Landscaping stabilized the backdunes with a "natural" seed mix (Mattoni 1989a). Unfortunately, the seed mix was representative of coastal sage scrub, an exogenous plant community, instead of the native dune scrub community. As a result, the El Segundo blue butterfly (Euphilotes allyni) became an endangered species. Its population, which had once extended over 3200 acres along the coastal dunes from Ocean Park to Malaga Cove in Palos Verdes,
See also
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List of Australian plants termed "native"
Further reading
