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native species
Sign in to saveAlso known as autochthonous species, indigenous species, native wildlife
term in biogeography for a species relationship to a geography; opposite of introduced species
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- species
- Part of
- ecosystem
- Has part
- native plant
Show 3 more facts
- opposite of
- adventive species
- facet of
- bioregion
- has characteristic
- mutualism
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Large-leaved lupine (Lupinus polyphyllus): native to western North America but introduced and invasive in several areas worldwide In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equivalent to the concept of indigenous or autochthonous species.
A wild organism (as opposed to a domesticated organism) is known as an introduced species within the regions where it was anthropogenically introduced. If an introduced species causes substantial ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage, it may be regarded more specifically as an invasive species.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “native species” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.