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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fugl" data-source="post: 1433947" data-attributes="member: 816">As always in these discussions I'm bothered by the simplistic distinction between "native" & "alien".  What matters surely is the effect of a species on the "ecosystem", not how it got there or where it came from.  For example where does "internal" colonization by "native" species fit in to all this?.  I'm thinking specifically of Brown-headed Cowbirds in the States which are now--entirely through "natural" means not as a result of deliberate introductions--found in many areas where they didn't occur aboriginally & where they currently cause problems for some native species.  Causing the spread, of course, were the massive man-made changes to the environment of the last few centuries.  The question is what is to be done in such cases?  Should attempts be made to nip the "colonization" in the bud as soon as the first birds start appearing outside their original range or should "nature" (however debased) be allowed to take its course? (of course, attempts at control in many cases probably won't work but that's different question).  My point here is not that all attempts at controlling "invasives" are bad or doomed to failure, but that a simple distinction between "alien" & "native" species is a totally inadequate basis for discussion.  "Alien" is "alien" whether the intruder is from a neighboring county or from another continent, and species are "native" not only to particular  countries or continents, but also to particular sets of conditions which can occur--or suddenly come in to being--just about anywhere.Well, I'm not sure at this point where I'm going with these musings, so I'll stop.</blockquote>

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