Inbiogeography, anative species is indigenous to a given region orecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local naturalevolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") duringhistory.[1] The term is equivalent to the concept ofindigenous orautochthonous species.[2][3]
A wild organism (as opposed to adomesticated organism) is known as anintroduced species within the regions where it wasanthropogenically introduced.[4] If an introduced species causes substantial ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage, it may be regarded more specifically as aninvasive species.
A native species in a location is not necessarily alsoendemic to that location. Endemic species areexclusively found in a particular place.[5] 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 orevolved where it is currently found.[6]
The notion of nativity is often a blurred concept, as it is a function of both time andpolitical boundaries.[7][8] Over long periods of time, local conditions andmigratory patterns are constantly changing astectonic plates move, join, and split.Natural climate change (which is much slower thanhuman-caused climate change) changessea level,ice cover, temperature, and rainfall, driving direct changes in habitability and indirect changes through the presence ofpredators, competitors, food sources, and evenoxygen levels. Species do naturally appear, reproduce, and endure, or becomeextinct, and their distribution is rarely static or confined to a particular geographic location.
Moreover, the distinction between native and non-native as being tied to a local occurrence duringhistorical times has been criticised as lacking perspective, and a case was made for more graded categorisations such as that ofprehistoric natives, which occurred in a region during prehistory but have since sufferedlocal extinction there due to human involvement.[9]
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Native species form communities andbiological interactions with other specific flora, fauna, fungi, and other organisms. For example, some plant species can only reproduce with a continuedmutualistic interaction with a certain animalpollinator, and the pollinating animal may also be dependent on that plant species for a food source.[10] Many species have adapted to very limited, unusual, or harsh conditions, such as cold climates or frequentwildfires.[11] Others can live in diverse areas or adapt well to different surroundings.
The diversity of species across many parts of the world exists only becausebioregions are separated by barriers, particularly largerivers,seas,oceans,mountains, anddeserts. Humans can introduce species that have never met in theirevolutionary 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 addressinvasive species view this as an increased risk to native species.
As humansintroduce 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.[12] 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.
Native plant organizations such as theSociety for Ecological Restoration, native plant societies,[13]Wild Ones, andLady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center[14] encourage the use of native plants. The identification of localremnant natural areas provides a basis for this work.
Many books have been written on the subject of planting native plants inhome gardens.[15][16][17] The use ofcultivars derived from native species is a widely disputed practice among native plant advocates.[18]
Whenecological 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 toecotype accuracy or type conversions.[19] 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 sanddunes at the western edge of theLos Angeles International Airport in 1975,landscapers stabilized the backdunes with a "natural" seed mix (Mattoni 1989a). Unfortunately, the seed mix was representative ofcoastal sage scrub, an exogenous plant community, instead of the native dune scrub community. As a result, theEl 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 inPalos Verdes,[20] began to recover when the invasiveCalifornia buckwheat(Eriogonum fasciculatum) was uprooted so that the butterflies' original native plant host, thedune buckwheat(Eriogonum parvifolium), could regain some of its lost habitat.[21]
