Bioinvasion

In an increasingly globalized world, plants, animals, and microbes are introduced more and more frequently into regions that had never hosted them. These "invasive" or "exotic" species can be a destabilizing influence in ecosystems that lack the natural enemies needed to check the spread of exotics. Without such checks, exotics can overrun ecosystems, leaving an impoverished and less resilient environment that is more vulnerable to stresses. Worldwatch research, especially through the book Life Out of Bounds, has been influential in positioning this new challenge to biodiversity on the global public agenda.