Question

How does climate change impact invasive species?

Select one:

a. It alters the environment they land in.

b. It changes the distribution of species.

c. It alters competitive interactions.

d. All of the above

Answer 1

Ans. (d) All of the above.

Explaination: Present man-made climate change favours invasive species expansion in an ecosytem and it alters the natural species diversity by competing for resources and making native species deplete for resources. It leads to species loss from the ecosystem and hence alters the species distribution. They expand rapidly exhausting the nutrients in soil and resources on the land they newly colonizes. Hence, colonization of invasive species leads to changing the land they colonize. In an ecosytem, a normal food web interaction occurs among the species making it an stable ecosystem in terms of species richness and energy. Invasive species disturbs the normal competitive interaction among the species and hence changes the competitive interaction ultimately leading to species diversity loss.