Practice question

The keyed exception is “Less likely to invade species-rich ecosystems.” In the context of characteristic generally not true for invasive species, that statement differs from the governing ecological pattern and must be evaluated against the mechanism rather than accepted from wording alone. Species management must identify the demographic stage and ecological process that most strongly limits population growth. Prevention, early detection, removal, habitat manipulation, and biological control act at different points in an invasion or recovery trajectory. The remaining alternatives—“Greater phenotypic plasticity”, “High dispersal ability”, “High competitive ability”—refer to different states, processes, or scales and therefore do not express the same causal relationship. Effective control reduces propagule pressure or population growth without causing unacceptable non-target effects. Repeated monitoring is necessary because seed banks, dormant stages, recolonization, and density-dependent compensation can reverse short-term gains. This distinction matters because similar surface patterns can arise through different mechanisms, whereas ecological prediction depends on identifying the mechanism that actually changes rates.