How adaptive species became “invasive”
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2007:
How adaptive species became “invasive”
Commentary by Merritt Clifton
“Exotic species,” “alien species,” and “invasive species”
are semi-synonymous terms which to most people may seem
insignificantly different.
Each is a metaphor for species not indigenous to their
habitat: non-native species, to introduce yet another term, less
rich in connotation.
Yet obscure as the distinctions among “exotic,” “alien,”
and “invasive” species may be, the terms are different enough to
have inspired environmental advocacy groups and government agencies
to spend millions of dollars in recent years to bring first “alien”
and then “invasive” into vogue.
Behind the linguistic politics is the belief that terminology
tends to shape attitudes. Thus, at about the same time that the
Natural Resources Defense Council began banging the drums about
“invasive” species, In Defense of Animals began to push use of the
term “guardian” rather than “owner” to describe a person who keeps a
pet.