You may not know what they are, but you certainly know and see invasive exotic species in your daily life. Exotic species are those living things found outside of their natural range. In addition to being generally exotic, invasive species are highly competitive for ecological niches within an ecosystem, often competing unfairly for resources and taking the place of native species, often causing ecological imbalances, affecting biological diversity and causing direct and indirect impacts on natural environments. These species may be native to other countries, or even species that are native to a certain region of Brazil, but come to occupy natural areas as invaders in other regions of the country.
Animals and plants are the most talked about invaders, but other living beings can also have invasive potential, especially microorganisms. Invasive exotic plants, for example, can hinder the growth of native species, reduce the diversity of flora and, consequently, of fauna, as they often do not serve as food for native fauna or are toxic. An example of an invasive plant is the leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala).
Invasive exotic animals can compete with native species for space and food, transmit diseases to native and domestic animals, cause economic damage, cause erosion and destruction of springs and native vegetation, and hunt or injure wild animals. Many species of invasive exotic animals can be found in our country, such as domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), domestic cats (Felis catus), wild boars (Sus scrofa) and others.
To minimize these impacts, it is important that public policies are put in place, together with actions by the population, such as not taking domestic animals to natural environments, not abandoning domestic animals in nature, avoiding planting or spreading seeds of invasive exotic plants, and disseminating information about the problem of invasive exotic species.
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