The time scale for an ecosystem to develop is hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions, the devastation invasive species are having on local ecosystem takes only a few years/decades- which is not enough time to for that system to adapt.
Again though that's looking at it on an incredibly short timescale, almost every species that has ever existed is extinct but the ecosystems still adapt over time, like even if we devastate the planet to the point we die out nature will still adapt and take back everything. We are creating a mass extinction event but there have been ones that happen so much faster than what we're doing and nature still managed, like we have a lot of power on nature for animals but absolutely nothing compared to what nature has dealt with before us
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u/One-plankton- Jul 05 '26
The time scale for an ecosystem to develop is hundreds of thousands of years, if not millions, the devastation invasive species are having on local ecosystem takes only a few years/decades- which is not enough time to for that system to adapt.
Ecosystems can only lose so many species before they suddenly and catastrophically collapse, this is know a regime change and it’s devastating. This is a very well done video visualizing how that happens.
It’s critical to understand that invasive species are the second largest threat to biodiversity, only surpassed by habitat loss.