The ability to create novel ecosystems where the worst impacts of invasive species are managed by culls, biological controls, or restoration may be our best path forward. For example, Tamarisk shrubs now provide habitat for the southwestern willow flycatchers in the continental US, and African tulip trees are helping rejuvenate the soil of Puerto Rico that had been severely eroded by sugar cane monoculture. But Wilcox shows that many invasive species actually fail to gain a foothold, and others might fill a niche that previous extinctions have created.
Mostly we tend to think of non-native examples (trillions of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes or millions of cane toads in Australia) that become established in a new region and then adversely affect the local ecosystem.
Victoria, BC author Merrie-Ellen Wilcox has written a fascinating account of the complicated world of invasive species. Nature Out of Balance How Invasive Species are Changing the Planet
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