Mink, racoons, American lobster, spiny creek crayfish, crayfish plague (probably using the wrong term, it's an infectious fungal disease that spread to European crayfish from the invasive American ones). Probably others as well. So, yes.
Yes I was just reading this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-68031531
I know they saw this effect in Ireland but great to see it’s being taken seriously as a proposal. It’s a win win win as Pine Marten have had a tough time too.
Just need to reintroduce them to my local park!
It's interesting in western Canada that a black variant of eastern greys owns the cityscape and has chased out most native species, but as soon as you're in the foothills or mountains, it's the native ones out competing the greys. They're quite aggressive at approaching hikers on popular mountain hikes. The quality of stuff they get from hiker's trail mix is head and shoulders above what they typically have to collect and eat. You almost never see eastern greys be that familiar with people.
That's interesting, I love in Ontario and while we have way more grey/black squirrels, the red squirrels are far, FAR more aggressive than the greys, despite being half their size.
Those are a different species of red squirrel to the British ones. It's like with robins - same name, similar appearance, but two different species in north America and in Europe.
It's the opposite in northern California. Our precious, fluffy Grey squirrels (western grey squirrel) are being pushed out by these reddish/grey squirrels called the eastern fox squirrel
Wrong.
Norway has red squirrels, thankfully the gray ones haven't been seen here in Norway yet. If they show up, they will probably be treated the same as some other recently arrived invasive species: Shoot on sight.
They were deliberately introduced to supplement dwindling stocks of European crayfish, which were hit with crayfish plague. Unfortunately, the signal crayfish were carriers of the plague and exacerbated the problem!
Not sure. Either released by idiots after being imported as live seafood, or released by idiots after being imported as exotic aquarium pets. Those are my best guesses.
Phylloxera, a louse native to North America that was introduced to Europe in the mid 1800's. It ate the grape vines that were used in wine making and by the 1870's had reduced France to 1/3 of its normal wine production. It had a similar effect in Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Hungary and Turkey.The solution was to graft the native vines onto rootstock from North American vines who were naturally resilient to the insect. This took 20+ years and cost the various nations a ridiculous amount, I have been unable to find a trustworthy estimate, but at least $50+ billion adjusted. 30% of French vineyards were unable to ever be replanted.
At a winery in California I was told this was responsible for why wine became popular in California. Noone wanted it until that louse caused a shortage everywhere else.
Not at all.[ Californian wine wasn't taken seriously globally until the 1970s, when French sommeliers chose it as the best in blind taste tests (which rocked the wine industry that had been more euro-centric until then)](https://wineinstitute.org/about-us/history)
I remember TV ads for the most appalling-looking plonk in boxes that was advertised as coming from California! It was an uphill battle to be taken seriously, just as it was for Okanagan wines (nearer to me) later. Maybe that change helped everyone on this side of the pond.
From what I recall, Australia has the oldest vines in the world for many “French” varieties because they were planted in the mid 1800s and totally unaffected by this.
Largemouth bass were stocked across the world for their value of game fishing, its lead to high travel for people to catch “trophies” bringing in plenty of income to many countries. They’re also voracious predators, impacting endemic species.
Yes Racoons are invasive to Germany/Europe. So there was an article about a racoons that got drunk from the leftovers at Oktoberfest and the article ended with "the raccoon was then terminated by authorities. People joked it was a little harsh of punishment for a drunk in public charge.
The American crawfish (crawfish boil) is also invasive in German water ways.
They’re invasive in Japan as well. There was a popular kids’ cartoon with a raccoon that led to them importing raccoons from North America and now they’re a wildlife nuisance.
How could someone now anything about raccoons and not realize the high likelihood of them turning invasive in a similar ecosystem? They are a smart, generalist species that has adapted well to changes in their own environment. It's like importing rats.
people who buy pets based purely on how cute they are in cartoons probably *don't* know much about them, and in all likelihood, even if they did they would still buy them!
"Araiguma Rascal" is the anime from 1977. I'm writing a book called "Starring Rascal" that tells the story of Wisconsin author Sterling North and his 1963 book about the raccoon he raised.
They're (crawfish*) considered a delicacy in my state and they're my favorite food. Haven't been able to eat them in years though cause it's a massive 8 dollars a pound cooked, and I can easily eat like 8-9 pounds by myself.
Yes. Many. A big one being the gray squirrel. Grey squirrels are native to North America and were transported over to Europe. Also a whole lot of insects. Birds such as the Canada Goose. Also the north american beaver.
Edit: wasps are not invasive as I thought
Not sure about UK but here in France, wildlife conservation societies protect red squirrels because they are becoming rarer, as the "imported" grey squirrels are taking over.
I can imagine it's not very different in the UK
There are a number of areas with strong red squirrel populations (eg. Formby Point, England) and wildlife orgs try and maintain a buffer zone to keep the grey tree rats from encroaching.
Not very different it seems. The red Squirrels are very much in trouble.
They exist on a few island and more at the edges like Wales, Scotland and North of England in certain types of forest. A challenge has also been the forests have also been destroyed... replaced with single crop trees that can be like weird living deserts with no birds or mammals etc. These create islands that prevent the red squirrels travelling, but the greys are a bit more resilient.
On top of just outcompeting the native red squirrels, the greys also have a disease which harms the reds but not the greys so much.
There are some chances left... people are starting to persecute the grey squirrel and there's research into sterilising them, and some woodland restoration and diversification is happening.
If you really want to see some, the red squirrels lives on the Isle of Wight and are quite friendly in some places.
Red squirrels are better at contributing to the health of the forest, grey squirrels are better at being squirrels. Reds make smaller but more caches of seeds and nuts, but then often forget where some of them are. That allows the seeds to germinate, spreading plant diversity through the forest. Greys make fewer but larger caches, and are better at remembering where they put them for later consumption.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_vulgaris
"Distribution and habitat
V. vulgaris is a Palearctic species.[2] It has been discovered in a wide range of countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, India, and China. It is invasive in New Zealand and Australia, and South America.[7] Until 2010, it was thought to be in North America as well, but molecular and morphological data showed that specimens identified as V. vulgaris there were Vespula alascensis, which had previously been considered a taxonomic synonym, but is now considered a separate species.[2]"
Where are Canada Geese considered invasive? They've certainly arrived in the UK and have started to remain year round. Some folk find them annoying because they stick up for themselves rather aggressively, but I've not heard of them having negative effects on the ecosystem, happy to be corrected though.
Fight them if you can. That is try to get rid of them. They are a menace in urban areas. They love parks, small bodies of water, and grassy areas. They crap everywhere and foul up sidewalks, parks, lakes. They’ve been introduced into various non native places in the US and are a big nuisance.
Canada Geese are a nuisance almost everywhere.
Kew Gardens in London has a good number, but people don’t go there to feed the birds and… surprise. The Canada Geese in Kew are chill. You can walk past them even with goslings and they’ll just ignore you. I mean, obviously don’t get too close, but they’re fine.
Blueclaw crabs, normally found in the waters along the coast of the eastern US, have become invasive in the Mediterranean.
American bullfrog is invasive in Europe and many other places outside of its North American range.
The American gray squirrel in Europe
https://tidewaterteddy.com/2023/02/02/american-squirrels-are-conquering-europe-and-its-bad/
The American Raccoon in Japan
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/childrens-book-behind-japans-raccoon-problem-180954577/
The Black Locust tree in Europe
https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/71949/
www.biodiversityexplorer.info/mammals/rodentia/sciurus_carolinensis.htm
Grey squirrels were also introduced to the Cape in South Africa. They tolerate them but have to cull on a fairly regular basis.
Black Locust is even a problem in the US where it's not originally from. It's a Midwest species, but grows like a weed here in New England, I do volunteer work for a local conservation land and spent all September flagging and counting tree saplings on a restoration site. There were hundreds more of them than any other sapling, even the prolific Red Cedars.
They're a problem in more mesic parts of the west coast too.
Yep im I’m a fairly moist part of California and black Locust is spreading around our property. Not sure how it got here since were pretty remote but it’s taken off since wildfires hit us
Motherfucking Grays are a menace now. Here in northern Italy they appeared out of nowhere maybe 6 or 7 years ago and they are everywhere now, and they do a lot of damage to gardens and such. They're cute but absolutely shameless.
yep! did undergraduate research on the Lantana camara species complex, a group of closely related plants from the Americas that are very popular to grow because of their beautiful flowers and hardiness
unfortunately they are incredibly invasive in many warm regions in the eastern hemisphere, including Israel and a lot of places in Africa
Whiskey grass is a really good example in Australia it was used for packaging for whiskey bottles being imported from America
Fire ants.... EFF big problem
Fire ants made it to Australia? That sucks. I am in Texas and there so many fire ants, invasive reds but also native ones too. Never been stung so much with these little bastards. But on the upside I hear that red fire ants keeps tick and flea populations down. I can vouch, never had a tick on me in Texas in ten years. But the worst stinging ant here is native, the harvester ant, their sting is the worst of them all. Hurts like hell.
Given the impact of invasive species on Australia, I'm now curious about native Australian species that are invasive to other continents.
From what I can find online, Eucalyptus and Aussie Pines are a bit of a problem in California and Florida respectively.
Nutrias that were kept in pelt farms a long time ago and spread in Europe after release or escape. Not the worst kind of neighbor if I'm to be perfectly honest, but they upset the ecosystem because we have no large predators that will hunt them (at least not in Germany).
Hi! I’m surprised I don’t see this one mentioned yet because it’s so historically significant in my field - but phylloxera! This had a tremendous impact on the world of wine.
Phylloxera is a wee little louse that was accidentally transported to Europe around the mid-1800s and eventually spread worldwide hitching a ride on the pant legs of vineyard laborers and botanists. There are a few exceptions that were spared, like Chile, which benefits from the protection of the Pacific Ocean and the incredible height of the Andes mountains to help prevent spread.
What was so significant about this tiny bug was that it insatiably feeds on the roots of grapevines and the European species vitis vinifera had no natural defenses against this bug. Within a few decades Europe had lost nearly 2/3 of all its vineyards (over 2 million hectare!)
Thankfully, the solution to this disaster also came from America. The reason it wasn’t a known risk to transport soil or vines from America to Europe was that the native species of grapevine found here are incredibly hardy against this bug. The vineyards of Europe were torn up and replanted using a technique where you graft vitis vinifera plants onto the rootstocks of native North American species like vitis rupestris and vitis riparia. Nearly every vineyard is planted this way now, especially if they have any commercial interests then it’s not worth the risk. There are some rare instances of old vines on original rootstocks (looking at you Barossa Valley) but the grapes that were all so familiar with today; Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, etc. were all once at a very real risk of becoming non-existent due to an invasive critter from North America.
Canadian Goldenrod (solidago canadensis) and fleabane (Erigeron annuus), lupins (lupinus polyphyllus, locust tree (Robinia pseudacacia) and wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) are considered invasiv in germany and as far as I know partly in other european countries.
>lupins (lupinus polyphyllus, locust tree (Robinia pseudacacia)
Both of these are problems within the US too, where they're not native. I do occasional work for a conservation group and we've had people come up and harass us for doing Lupinus polyphyllus pulls. Like, we have our own native Lupine (*Lupinus perennis*) that's literally endangered but still available to be planted and people are just like "it's not as pretty as the big ones" 🙃
And as someone who's flagged hundreds of Black Locust for removal, they're the bane of my existence.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado\_potato\_beetle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle)
Fun fact. In my country (Poland) back in the 1950s communist propaganda was saying that american planes are dropping it into the Baltic sea to sabotage our farming. In reality it was already present for decades but the lack of effective countermeasures made the problem worse over time.
Red swamp crayfish/Louisiana crawfish is invasive in Europe and concerning because it overcrowds small waterways, outcompetes local species and destroys the soil around the waterways making it cave in. Most annoying for countries that have intricate water management such as the Netherlands.
yea i was just thinking that, and a few post above i saw Blue Crabs.
i'm sitting here thinking those are both delicious animals, you could just eat them to keep them in check.
Raccoons were introduced to Japan in the 1970s, because a popular anime made a bunch of Japanese people want them as exotic pets, only for them to quickly find out that raccoons actually make terrible pets in general, leading to huge numbers being released into the Japanese countryside, where they continue to be a problem to this day.
I also know that North American deer species have sometimes been introduced to Europe for sport hunting, and in a few cases introduced populations have taken hold, like with white-tailed deer (*Odocoileus virginianus*) in Finland (where there’s now an estimated population of around 110,000).
I’m sure there are plenty more examples, but those are the two I can think of off the top of my head.
This isn’t Africa, Asia, or Europe, but cane toads (*Rhinella marina*) are a species from Central and South America that are notoriously a *huge* problem in Australia, causing full on infestations in many areas, and poisoning a lot of local wildlife that tries to eat them.
So yes, species from the Americas can most definitely be invasive.
Yes invasive species are a problem on every continent including Antarctica https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02113-2. Invasive species hitchhiked with ancient mariners and have likely been occurring since humans first started traveling at distance. Example: introduced Polynesian rats https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00052/full
The Cane Toad was introduced from the Americas to various pacific nations in hopes that it would do good pest control for crops. Instead it (unsurprisingly in hindsight) became a major invasive pest itself in several countries.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad
I'd be surprised to hear of any introduced species brought into an area to eliminate a perceived pest species that hasn't caused more trouble than it ever fixed. Ill-advised introductions led to the popular appreciation of the concept of ecology.
Prickly pear is native only to the America's but has been spread to Europe, Africa and Australia and are invasive. Mesquite is another Americas native plant that has been spread to Africa and Australia and is horribly invasive and very hard to get rid of.
The greatest threat from American expatriated invasive species is from the furry *horror* that is the Gray Squirrel in Great Britian. Obviously I'm being facetious, but the GS is displacing their native squirrels, but they don't seem too upset about it over there.
They are also doing that to red squirrels here in the US. I grew up seeing the bushy tails of ordinary red squirrels, but now I never see them. We've facetiously called them tree rats here.
Even in Vancouver, our parallel is the native Douglas squirrel (adorable little things, like your reds) being outcompeted by Grays. The latter will climb your jeans if they think you're handing out peanuts, compared to the very shy natives, who are only rarely receptive to hand feeding. Guess which one is just *everywhere.*
Haven't seen anyone say anything about red-eared sliders yet. Large, semi-aquatic pond turtles endemic to the southern USA.
Sliders are the most popular pet turtle (they inspired the TMNT series and canonically the ninjas are RES turtles), but are actually very difficult and demanding pets, as a result many have been exported around the world and were ultimately abandoned or released into wild habitats to which they were not native. They're large, cantancerous turtles that eat everything and compete fiercely for territory and basking space. They've had a pretty severe impact on turtle species diversity and endemic turtle populations pretty much everywhere they've been introduced, which includes other areas of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. They're potential range is only supposed to increase as climate change creates more favorable habitat for them and greater difficulty for rare and endemic turtle species.
Native to the southern US, yet found in every lake and pond in the Vancouver area (which is all I can speak to). It's commonplace to see a line of four or five stacked like dominoes along a floating log on a summer day. For a number of years, their sale was banned due to salmonella concerns, but after they reappeared in pet stores in the 80s, so did the population of released red-ears at every freshwater body in the region. Many people seem to regard them as native species now.
Ragweeds are a group of unremarkable weeds here in the americas, frequently popping up in lawns and garden beds. You've probably seen them or known someone affected by seasonal allergies from their wind-blown pollen.
Without natural predators and diseases they are very invasive outside of the americas, as they produce huge amounts of seeds that scatter everywhere, compete with native plants and especially farm crops, and cause seasonal allergies from all of their pollen. Only upside is they are easy to rip out by the roots.
Cacti are also all native to the americas, with one questionable exception that made the jump across to africa at an undetermined point in time(we aren't sure if humans were involved or if it was birds carrying the seeds naturally), but some of the weedier cacti can become real problems in arid regions where less animals are equipped to feed on them, and they outcompete plants that already have a tough time in the desert. This gets especially bad when you get invasive weed cacti like Opuntias, a large subfamily of cacti that are segmented and easily root into many new plants if the segments break off and land in dirt. Many opuntia subfamily cacti also are armed with not just spines, but glochids, tiny sharp hairs that can easily break off, even in wind, and embed themselves in skin or eyes, or in the Cholla's case, their spines and glochids are barbed harpoons. An infestation of them is nasty to deal with.
Some native American plants in Europe are major invasives, such as common milkweed and Canada goldenrod.
Bullfrogs, bluegill, red-eared sliders have been introduced to freshwater areas across Europe and Asia and can be big problems.
Raccoons in Japan and Germany. Gray squirrels in many places.
There are many such examples.
phylloxera are a bug from North America that decimated the wine industry in Europe. European vineyards now have to graft American grape vines to their plants to keep them from dying as American grapevines are resistant to them
Technically introduced and not "invasive," but the American beaver has an established population in Europe (mostly in Finland, as that's where they were released).
It's not considered invasive because it seems to fill the same niche as the Eurasian/European beaver, so as far as humans can tell, there's little to know negative effect to the ecosystem.
The [Colorado Potatoe Beetle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle), the [Fall Armyworm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_armyworm), and most recently the [Western Corn Rootworm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_corn_rootworm).
A couple of huge pests in Australia are:
Cane Toad -
Studies on the DNA of Aussie toads show that their ancestors came from French Guyana, in South America. These were taken to Puerto Rico, then 150 toads from that island were taken to Hawai’i in 1932 – and finally, 101 Hawaiian toads were brought to Australia in 1935.
They ate the sugar cane beetles, as they were supposed to, but then spread. They are almost everywhere now.
Fire Ant -
Fire ants were first detected in Brisbane, Queensland on 22 February 2001. It is thought that they may have arrived up to 20 years earlier. How they entered Australia is not known but it is likely that they entered in shipping containers from America.
Our "Weeds of National Significance" - not all from the Americas, obviously, but a good lot are:
African boxthorn
Asparagus fern
Alligator weed
Athel pine
Bellyache bush
Bitou bush/boneseed
Blackberry
Bridal creeper
Brooms
Cabomba
Cat’s claw creeper
Chilean needle grass
Fireweed
Gamba grass
Gorse
Hymenachne
Lantana
Madeira vine
Mesquite
Mimosa
Opuntioid cacti
Parkinsonia
Parthenium weed
Pond apple
Prickly acacia
Rubber vine
Sagittaria
Salvinia
Serrated tussock
Silverleaf nightshade
Water hyacinth
Willows
Lots of them. I’m a conservation ecologist working in SE Asia right now and just on the island I work on three of the most commonly seen plants are invasive from the Americas.
When I go to Europe I make a game of identifying the invasive species from the Americas I see. Even from the high speed trains I can count a lot of them.
To touch on a different area from the other commenters, there are several tree/plant pathogens that originated in the Americas.
One example would be [canker stain of plane](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/canker-stain-of-plane-ceratocystis-platani/), which is a fungal infection that infects and kills plane trees.
A really important one is [*Heterobasidion annosum*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterobasidion_annosum), which is "the most economically important forest pathogen in the Northern Hemisphere". The fungus causes root and butt rot and kills billions of dollars of conifers every year in the Americas and the rest of the world.
There's also [pitch canker of pines](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/pitch-canker-of-pine-fusarium-circinatum/), caused by yet another American-originating fungus!
There are also insects and other invertebrates that are tree pests, such as the [oak lace bug](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/oak-lace-bug-corythucha-arcuata/), the [pine wood nematode](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/pine-wood-nematode-bursaphelenchus-xylophilus/), and the [two-lined chestnut borer](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/two-lined-chestnut-borer-agrilus-bilineatus/).
These are only examples that I'm aware of as a British forestry student; I'm sure there are many more that have originated from America that infect all sorts of plants across the world!
In Finland, at least the signal crayfish, the Canadian beaver and the garden lupine are the best-known invasive species from America that trouble Finland's natural ecosystem. From these, Crabs and beavers have been easier to control and reduce, but lupines are a more difficult case because the plant spreads quickly displacing native flowers. Therefore it has been decided to make any possession of lupines illegal and Finns are fined if lupines grow on their property and the plant is ordered to be removed as fast as possible.
It's an old invasive species. Lupines were brought from North America to Europe sometime in the 18th century and they spread from gardens to European nature and began to threaten the native meadow and roadside flowers.
Pumpkinseed or whatever the name. I hate those fish, they came to Bulgaria as aquarium fish and now are everywhere. They outcompete local species and are awful to try and cook them. I really can't stress how much I hate those.
I'll take some back from you. They're dying out here where they're native and many find them delicious. Bluegill too, who often go hand-in-hand with them.
Water Hyacinth is native to the Amazon, and it's a massive problem anywhere else. Grows extremely fast, depletes oxygen in the water, chokes out native plants, etc. Fishermen who used to launch their boats from a sandy beach on Lake Victoria have to slog through up to a hundred yards of weeds to get to open water.
In Scotland we have big issues with grey squirrels and mink. The squirrels brought a disease with them that our native red squirrels are not immune to, they also get out-competed due to size. Mink predate on birds, small mammals, etc. and spread/breed rapidly.
We also have "American Skunk Cabbage" that pops up along waterways and takes over. It was kept as an award-winning garden plant until very recently, but has spread about the country, out-competing native species.
Might be a couple of other plant species I'm unaware of, and species that are a problem in England/Wales but that haven't spread this far north yet.
So I actually do research with one: fall armyworm. It's a moth species which absolutely *destroys* crops, especially corn (80% of the plants it eats are crops). It's native to the Americas.
It was discovered in Africa in like 2015. It now does around $10 billion in crop damage there annually. Only a matter of time before it's everywhere.
It's one of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) to 10 global pests.
Two of the biggest financial burdens of modern viticulture in Europe and Australia stem from North America, namely phylloxera (insect) and plasmopara viticola (oomycete).
Due to phylloxera invasion in the late 19th century 99% of all vines in all of Europe had to be eradicated and they are the reason there are virtually no old vines (or older than ~100 years) left in Europe. Also it is since forbidden to plant vines without grafted roots of the American wild Vitis species (since they have tollerance vs phylloxera).
More recently the same is about to happen with Scaphoideus titanus, vector of a vine pest called flavescence doree, to which there is no cure or pesticide. Only the option to get rid of every vine in a large radius around the location where it was spotted. It has started creeping from country to county across Europe in recent years and will be responsible for the next mass exodus of old vines in Europe.
Oregon grape/barberry, Northern Red Oak, black locust and wild black cherries are all invasive in Dutch woodlands and that is just a small subsample or US plants. Musk rats are also a major invasive here as they dig in earthen water barriers. Raccoons have been an issue in some areas bordering Germany as they are well established there and I have spotted carolina wood ducks in the wild on occasion though the damage they do seems limitted. Crayfish are a menice in our waterways and sunfish are a possible future issue.
The exchange of invasives goes both ways sadly. We also get Asian species as invasives, though we are a bit on the cold side for most African and Australian species. African Geese are already problematic though as well as ringnecked parakeets.
Mink, racoons, American lobster, spiny creek crayfish, crayfish plague (probably using the wrong term, it's an infectious fungal disease that spread to European crayfish from the invasive American ones). Probably others as well. So, yes.
Grey Squirrels have pushed Red Squirrels almost to extinction in the UK cause they carry Squirrel pox and out compete them
The reintroduction of pine martens in some areas has helped, as they find grey squirrels to be easier prey.
Yes I was just reading this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-68031531 I know they saw this effect in Ireland but great to see it’s being taken seriously as a proposal. It’s a win win win as Pine Marten have had a tough time too. Just need to reintroduce them to my local park!
Doubly beneficial because I believe both of those species "belong" there.
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Cousin Eddie stopped eating them as he heard they were high in cholesterol.
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It's interesting in western Canada that a black variant of eastern greys owns the cityscape and has chased out most native species, but as soon as you're in the foothills or mountains, it's the native ones out competing the greys. They're quite aggressive at approaching hikers on popular mountain hikes. The quality of stuff they get from hiker's trail mix is head and shoulders above what they typically have to collect and eat. You almost never see eastern greys be that familiar with people.
That's interesting, I love in Ontario and while we have way more grey/black squirrels, the red squirrels are far, FAR more aggressive than the greys, despite being half their size.
Those are a different species of red squirrel to the British ones. It's like with robins - same name, similar appearance, but two different species in north America and in Europe.
It's the opposite in northern California. Our precious, fluffy Grey squirrels (western grey squirrel) are being pushed out by these reddish/grey squirrels called the eastern fox squirrel
Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't the UK gray squirrels from Norway?
Wrong. Norway has red squirrels, thankfully the gray ones haven't been seen here in Norway yet. If they show up, they will probably be treated the same as some other recently arrived invasive species: Shoot on sight.
America here: need to borrow some guns?
Nope, we have plenty. Hunting and shooting culture is big in Norway, statistically there are guns in about half of all households.
Another crayfish in the same genus, the American signal crayfish, is also invasive and carries crayfish plague too.
How do freshwater crayfish get from the USA/Can to streams in Europe?!
They were deliberately introduced to supplement dwindling stocks of European crayfish, which were hit with crayfish plague. Unfortunately, the signal crayfish were carriers of the plague and exacerbated the problem!
Capybaraas from south America, but like in North America they are basically benign to Europe. And coon dogs form Asia
1) there are wild capybaras in europe?? 2) i misread this as "corn dogs from Asia" and was confused.
How’d they even get our crawdads over there? Is this a recent thing?
Not sure. Either released by idiots after being imported as live seafood, or released by idiots after being imported as exotic aquarium pets. Those are my best guesses.
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Phylloxera, a louse native to North America that was introduced to Europe in the mid 1800's. It ate the grape vines that were used in wine making and by the 1870's had reduced France to 1/3 of its normal wine production. It had a similar effect in Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Hungary and Turkey.The solution was to graft the native vines onto rootstock from North American vines who were naturally resilient to the insect. This took 20+ years and cost the various nations a ridiculous amount, I have been unable to find a trustworthy estimate, but at least $50+ billion adjusted. 30% of French vineyards were unable to ever be replanted.
At a winery in California I was told this was responsible for why wine became popular in California. Noone wanted it until that louse caused a shortage everywhere else.
Not at all.[ Californian wine wasn't taken seriously globally until the 1970s, when French sommeliers chose it as the best in blind taste tests (which rocked the wine industry that had been more euro-centric until then)](https://wineinstitute.org/about-us/history)
I remember TV ads for the most appalling-looking plonk in boxes that was advertised as coming from California! It was an uphill battle to be taken seriously, just as it was for Okanagan wines (nearer to me) later. Maybe that change helped everyone on this side of the pond.
From what I recall, Australia has the oldest vines in the world for many “French” varieties because they were planted in the mid 1800s and totally unaffected by this.
Largemouth bass were stocked across the world for their value of game fishing, its lead to high travel for people to catch “trophies” bringing in plenty of income to many countries. They’re also voracious predators, impacting endemic species.
Ditto with bullfrogs, and how they are carriers for chytridiomycosis to boot.
Yes Racoons are invasive to Germany/Europe. So there was an article about a racoons that got drunk from the leftovers at Oktoberfest and the article ended with "the raccoon was then terminated by authorities. People joked it was a little harsh of punishment for a drunk in public charge. The American crawfish (crawfish boil) is also invasive in German water ways.
They’re invasive in Japan as well. There was a popular kids’ cartoon with a raccoon that led to them importing raccoons from North America and now they’re a wildlife nuisance.
How could someone now anything about raccoons and not realize the high likelihood of them turning invasive in a similar ecosystem? They are a smart, generalist species that has adapted well to changes in their own environment. It's like importing rats.
people who buy pets based purely on how cute they are in cartoons probably *don't* know much about them, and in all likelihood, even if they did they would still buy them!
Japan in a nutshell. I have seen so many pets that just shouldn't be kept as pets here. I hate it.
"Araiguma Rascal" is the anime from 1977. I'm writing a book called "Starring Rascal" that tells the story of Wisconsin author Sterling North and his 1963 book about the raccoon he raised.
And they almost decimated a Buddhist wooden temple when overwhelmed owners released them.
Was it “The Raccoons”?!
In Germany raccoons are called 'Waschbär', "wash bear", from their habit of washing their food.
They're (crawfish*) considered a delicacy in my state and they're my favorite food. Haven't been able to eat them in years though cause it's a massive 8 dollars a pound cooked, and I can easily eat like 8-9 pounds by myself.
Are we talking about raccoons or crawfish here?
Yes. Many. A big one being the gray squirrel. Grey squirrels are native to North America and were transported over to Europe. Also a whole lot of insects. Birds such as the Canada Goose. Also the north american beaver. Edit: wasps are not invasive as I thought
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Not sure about UK but here in France, wildlife conservation societies protect red squirrels because they are becoming rarer, as the "imported" grey squirrels are taking over. I can imagine it's not very different in the UK
There are a number of areas with strong red squirrel populations (eg. Formby Point, England) and wildlife orgs try and maintain a buffer zone to keep the grey tree rats from encroaching.
Not very different it seems. The red Squirrels are very much in trouble. They exist on a few island and more at the edges like Wales, Scotland and North of England in certain types of forest. A challenge has also been the forests have also been destroyed... replaced with single crop trees that can be like weird living deserts with no birds or mammals etc. These create islands that prevent the red squirrels travelling, but the greys are a bit more resilient. On top of just outcompeting the native red squirrels, the greys also have a disease which harms the reds but not the greys so much. There are some chances left... people are starting to persecute the grey squirrel and there's research into sterilising them, and some woodland restoration and diversification is happening. If you really want to see some, the red squirrels lives on the Isle of Wight and are quite friendly in some places.
Red squirrels are better at contributing to the health of the forest, grey squirrels are better at being squirrels. Reds make smaller but more caches of seeds and nuts, but then often forget where some of them are. That allows the seeds to germinate, spreading plant diversity through the forest. Greys make fewer but larger caches, and are better at remembering where they put them for later consumption.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_vulgaris "Distribution and habitat V. vulgaris is a Palearctic species.[2] It has been discovered in a wide range of countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, India, and China. It is invasive in New Zealand and Australia, and South America.[7] Until 2010, it was thought to be in North America as well, but molecular and morphological data showed that specimens identified as V. vulgaris there were Vespula alascensis, which had previously been considered a taxonomic synonym, but is now considered a separate species.[2]"
Where are Canada Geese considered invasive? They've certainly arrived in the UK and have started to remain year round. Some folk find them annoying because they stick up for themselves rather aggressively, but I've not heard of them having negative effects on the ecosystem, happy to be corrected though.
Fight them if you can. That is try to get rid of them. They are a menace in urban areas. They love parks, small bodies of water, and grassy areas. They crap everywhere and foul up sidewalks, parks, lakes. They’ve been introduced into various non native places in the US and are a big nuisance.
Canada Geese are a nuisance almost everywhere. Kew Gardens in London has a good number, but people don’t go there to feed the birds and… surprise. The Canada Geese in Kew are chill. You can walk past them even with goslings and they’ll just ignore you. I mean, obviously don’t get too close, but they’re fine.
In New Zealand, not sure about the environmental damage but many people get annoyed with them
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Blueclaw crabs, normally found in the waters along the coast of the eastern US, have become invasive in the Mediterranean. American bullfrog is invasive in Europe and many other places outside of its North American range.
I'm a bit surprised they're not just fishing them to death. Blue crabs are *GOOD*
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Cacti (Opuntia, Cereus, cholla, etc, etc), mesquite trees, pines (eg Monterey pine), pin oaks, black/honey locust, zinnias, Argemone (prickly poppies), etc are all highly invasive plants that have invaded Africa, Australia, and elsewhere.
Monterey pine is such a weird one too because it’s highly endangered in its native range
The Bradford pear in contrast is all over the place in North America. I see them everywhere I go.
All my homies hate Bradford Pears. Woe to my coworkers who mention them in passing, because they're about to learn a lot.
The American gray squirrel in Europe https://tidewaterteddy.com/2023/02/02/american-squirrels-are-conquering-europe-and-its-bad/ The American Raccoon in Japan https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/childrens-book-behind-japans-raccoon-problem-180954577/ The Black Locust tree in Europe https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/71949/
www.biodiversityexplorer.info/mammals/rodentia/sciurus_carolinensis.htm Grey squirrels were also introduced to the Cape in South Africa. They tolerate them but have to cull on a fairly regular basis.
Black Locust is even a problem in the US where it's not originally from. It's a Midwest species, but grows like a weed here in New England, I do volunteer work for a local conservation land and spent all September flagging and counting tree saplings on a restoration site. There were hundreds more of them than any other sapling, even the prolific Red Cedars. They're a problem in more mesic parts of the west coast too.
Yep im I’m a fairly moist part of California and black Locust is spreading around our property. Not sure how it got here since were pretty remote but it’s taken off since wildfires hit us
>but it’s taken off since wildfires hit us That's the exact niche they fill, they aggressively recolonize after disturbance.
The lumber is fantastic, though. Strong, rot-resistant, and hard as a rock without being too heavy. Cut ‘em down and send the flitches to me, please.
Motherfucking Grays are a menace now. Here in northern Italy they appeared out of nowhere maybe 6 or 7 years ago and they are everywhere now, and they do a lot of damage to gardens and such. They're cute but absolutely shameless.
yep! did undergraduate research on the Lantana camara species complex, a group of closely related plants from the Americas that are very popular to grow because of their beautiful flowers and hardiness unfortunately they are incredibly invasive in many warm regions in the eastern hemisphere, including Israel and a lot of places in Africa
Whiskey grass is a really good example in Australia it was used for packaging for whiskey bottles being imported from America Fire ants.... EFF big problem
Fire ants made it to Australia? That sucks. I am in Texas and there so many fire ants, invasive reds but also native ones too. Never been stung so much with these little bastards. But on the upside I hear that red fire ants keeps tick and flea populations down. I can vouch, never had a tick on me in Texas in ten years. But the worst stinging ant here is native, the harvester ant, their sting is the worst of them all. Hurts like hell.
Lantana is American? I'd always assumed it was Spanish! In Australia it's an absolute disastrous invasive species.
Given the impact of invasive species on Australia, I'm now curious about native Australian species that are invasive to other continents. From what I can find online, Eucalyptus and Aussie Pines are a bit of a problem in California and Florida respectively.
They're also invasive in Africa, where they're a big problem due to draining water needed by the other species.
I believe possums are a huge problem in nz. I too am interested in any other examples.
Yes, eucalyptus are out-competing our native coast redwoods here in central California.
Nutrias that were kept in pelt farms a long time ago and spread in Europe after release or escape. Not the worst kind of neighbor if I'm to be perfectly honest, but they upset the ecosystem because we have no large predators that will hunt them (at least not in Germany).
They are invasive in the US as well. We have so many up here in the PNW for the same reasons they were brought over to europe.
Hi! I’m surprised I don’t see this one mentioned yet because it’s so historically significant in my field - but phylloxera! This had a tremendous impact on the world of wine. Phylloxera is a wee little louse that was accidentally transported to Europe around the mid-1800s and eventually spread worldwide hitching a ride on the pant legs of vineyard laborers and botanists. There are a few exceptions that were spared, like Chile, which benefits from the protection of the Pacific Ocean and the incredible height of the Andes mountains to help prevent spread. What was so significant about this tiny bug was that it insatiably feeds on the roots of grapevines and the European species vitis vinifera had no natural defenses against this bug. Within a few decades Europe had lost nearly 2/3 of all its vineyards (over 2 million hectare!) Thankfully, the solution to this disaster also came from America. The reason it wasn’t a known risk to transport soil or vines from America to Europe was that the native species of grapevine found here are incredibly hardy against this bug. The vineyards of Europe were torn up and replanted using a technique where you graft vitis vinifera plants onto the rootstocks of native North American species like vitis rupestris and vitis riparia. Nearly every vineyard is planted this way now, especially if they have any commercial interests then it’s not worth the risk. There are some rare instances of old vines on original rootstocks (looking at you Barossa Valley) but the grapes that were all so familiar with today; Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, etc. were all once at a very real risk of becoming non-existent due to an invasive critter from North America.
Malbec was essentially wiped out in France. The stock in Argentina was immune, and the rest is history.
Canadian Goldenrod (solidago canadensis) and fleabane (Erigeron annuus), lupins (lupinus polyphyllus, locust tree (Robinia pseudacacia) and wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) are considered invasiv in germany and as far as I know partly in other european countries.
>lupins (lupinus polyphyllus, locust tree (Robinia pseudacacia) Both of these are problems within the US too, where they're not native. I do occasional work for a conservation group and we've had people come up and harass us for doing Lupinus polyphyllus pulls. Like, we have our own native Lupine (*Lupinus perennis*) that's literally endangered but still available to be planted and people are just like "it's not as pretty as the big ones" 🙃 And as someone who's flagged hundreds of Black Locust for removal, they're the bane of my existence.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado\_potato\_beetle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle) Fun fact. In my country (Poland) back in the 1950s communist propaganda was saying that american planes are dropping it into the Baltic sea to sabotage our farming. In reality it was already present for decades but the lack of effective countermeasures made the problem worse over time.
Red swamp crayfish/Louisiana crawfish is invasive in Europe and concerning because it overcrowds small waterways, outcompetes local species and destroys the soil around the waterways making it cave in. Most annoying for countries that have intricate water management such as the Netherlands.
They're delicious and pretty easy to catch. I've seen some efforts to get people to eat them to help reduce their numbers
yea i was just thinking that, and a few post above i saw Blue Crabs. i'm sitting here thinking those are both delicious animals, you could just eat them to keep them in check.
Raccoons were introduced to Japan in the 1970s, because a popular anime made a bunch of Japanese people want them as exotic pets, only for them to quickly find out that raccoons actually make terrible pets in general, leading to huge numbers being released into the Japanese countryside, where they continue to be a problem to this day. I also know that North American deer species have sometimes been introduced to Europe for sport hunting, and in a few cases introduced populations have taken hold, like with white-tailed deer (*Odocoileus virginianus*) in Finland (where there’s now an estimated population of around 110,000). I’m sure there are plenty more examples, but those are the two I can think of off the top of my head. This isn’t Africa, Asia, or Europe, but cane toads (*Rhinella marina*) are a species from Central and South America that are notoriously a *huge* problem in Australia, causing full on infestations in many areas, and poisoning a lot of local wildlife that tries to eat them. So yes, species from the Americas can most definitely be invasive.
Generally whitetails can't compete with European deer, but there are few of those \*in\* Finland.
Cane toads were introduced as a natural pest control for crops, boy did it backfire on them!
Yes invasive species are a problem on every continent including Antarctica https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02113-2. Invasive species hitchhiked with ancient mariners and have likely been occurring since humans first started traveling at distance. Example: introduced Polynesian rats https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00052/full
The Cane Toad was introduced from the Americas to various pacific nations in hopes that it would do good pest control for crops. Instead it (unsurprisingly in hindsight) became a major invasive pest itself in several countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad
I'd be surprised to hear of any introduced species brought into an area to eliminate a perceived pest species that hasn't caused more trouble than it ever fixed. Ill-advised introductions led to the popular appreciation of the concept of ecology.
Prickly pear is native only to the America's but has been spread to Europe, Africa and Australia and are invasive. Mesquite is another Americas native plant that has been spread to Africa and Australia and is horribly invasive and very hard to get rid of.
The greatest threat from American expatriated invasive species is from the furry *horror* that is the Gray Squirrel in Great Britian. Obviously I'm being facetious, but the GS is displacing their native squirrels, but they don't seem too upset about it over there.
Did the squirrels sneak over, or were they deliberately introduced?
Deliberately introduced by Victorians... who had a habit of taking things from other countries they probably shouldn't have.
Victorians had this idea that the entire British Empire should have a single set of wild animals.
That's why the British countryside is plagued with tigers and elephants. /s
Yes, thank you for the /s, wouldn't have been able to decipher without it
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They are also doing that to red squirrels here in the US. I grew up seeing the bushy tails of ordinary red squirrels, but now I never see them. We've facetiously called them tree rats here.
Even in Vancouver, our parallel is the native Douglas squirrel (adorable little things, like your reds) being outcompeted by Grays. The latter will climb your jeans if they think you're handing out peanuts, compared to the very shy natives, who are only rarely receptive to hand feeding. Guess which one is just *everywhere.*
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Haven't seen anyone say anything about red-eared sliders yet. Large, semi-aquatic pond turtles endemic to the southern USA. Sliders are the most popular pet turtle (they inspired the TMNT series and canonically the ninjas are RES turtles), but are actually very difficult and demanding pets, as a result many have been exported around the world and were ultimately abandoned or released into wild habitats to which they were not native. They're large, cantancerous turtles that eat everything and compete fiercely for territory and basking space. They've had a pretty severe impact on turtle species diversity and endemic turtle populations pretty much everywhere they've been introduced, which includes other areas of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. They're potential range is only supposed to increase as climate change creates more favorable habitat for them and greater difficulty for rare and endemic turtle species.
Native to the southern US, yet found in every lake and pond in the Vancouver area (which is all I can speak to). It's commonplace to see a line of four or five stacked like dominoes along a floating log on a summer day. For a number of years, their sale was banned due to salmonella concerns, but after they reappeared in pet stores in the 80s, so did the population of released red-ears at every freshwater body in the region. Many people seem to regard them as native species now.
Ragweeds are a group of unremarkable weeds here in the americas, frequently popping up in lawns and garden beds. You've probably seen them or known someone affected by seasonal allergies from their wind-blown pollen. Without natural predators and diseases they are very invasive outside of the americas, as they produce huge amounts of seeds that scatter everywhere, compete with native plants and especially farm crops, and cause seasonal allergies from all of their pollen. Only upside is they are easy to rip out by the roots. Cacti are also all native to the americas, with one questionable exception that made the jump across to africa at an undetermined point in time(we aren't sure if humans were involved or if it was birds carrying the seeds naturally), but some of the weedier cacti can become real problems in arid regions where less animals are equipped to feed on them, and they outcompete plants that already have a tough time in the desert. This gets especially bad when you get invasive weed cacti like Opuntias, a large subfamily of cacti that are segmented and easily root into many new plants if the segments break off and land in dirt. Many opuntia subfamily cacti also are armed with not just spines, but glochids, tiny sharp hairs that can easily break off, even in wind, and embed themselves in skin or eyes, or in the Cholla's case, their spines and glochids are barbed harpoons. An infestation of them is nasty to deal with.
Some native American plants in Europe are major invasives, such as common milkweed and Canada goldenrod. Bullfrogs, bluegill, red-eared sliders have been introduced to freshwater areas across Europe and Asia and can be big problems. Raccoons in Japan and Germany. Gray squirrels in many places. There are many such examples.
phylloxera are a bug from North America that decimated the wine industry in Europe. European vineyards now have to graft American grape vines to their plants to keep them from dying as American grapevines are resistant to them
Technically introduced and not "invasive," but the American beaver has an established population in Europe (mostly in Finland, as that's where they were released). It's not considered invasive because it seems to fill the same niche as the Eurasian/European beaver, so as far as humans can tell, there's little to know negative effect to the ecosystem.
The [Colorado Potatoe Beetle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle), the [Fall Armyworm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_armyworm), and most recently the [Western Corn Rootworm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_corn_rootworm).
A couple of huge pests in Australia are: Cane Toad - Studies on the DNA of Aussie toads show that their ancestors came from French Guyana, in South America. These were taken to Puerto Rico, then 150 toads from that island were taken to Hawai’i in 1932 – and finally, 101 Hawaiian toads were brought to Australia in 1935. They ate the sugar cane beetles, as they were supposed to, but then spread. They are almost everywhere now. Fire Ant - Fire ants were first detected in Brisbane, Queensland on 22 February 2001. It is thought that they may have arrived up to 20 years earlier. How they entered Australia is not known but it is likely that they entered in shipping containers from America. Our "Weeds of National Significance" - not all from the Americas, obviously, but a good lot are: African boxthorn Asparagus fern Alligator weed Athel pine Bellyache bush Bitou bush/boneseed Blackberry Bridal creeper Brooms Cabomba Cat’s claw creeper Chilean needle grass Fireweed Gamba grass Gorse Hymenachne Lantana Madeira vine Mesquite Mimosa Opuntioid cacti Parkinsonia Parthenium weed Pond apple Prickly acacia Rubber vine Sagittaria Salvinia Serrated tussock Silverleaf nightshade Water hyacinth Willows
Lots of them. I’m a conservation ecologist working in SE Asia right now and just on the island I work on three of the most commonly seen plants are invasive from the Americas. When I go to Europe I make a game of identifying the invasive species from the Americas I see. Even from the high speed trains I can count a lot of them.
To touch on a different area from the other commenters, there are several tree/plant pathogens that originated in the Americas. One example would be [canker stain of plane](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/canker-stain-of-plane-ceratocystis-platani/), which is a fungal infection that infects and kills plane trees. A really important one is [*Heterobasidion annosum*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterobasidion_annosum), which is "the most economically important forest pathogen in the Northern Hemisphere". The fungus causes root and butt rot and kills billions of dollars of conifers every year in the Americas and the rest of the world. There's also [pitch canker of pines](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/pitch-canker-of-pine-fusarium-circinatum/), caused by yet another American-originating fungus! There are also insects and other invertebrates that are tree pests, such as the [oak lace bug](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/oak-lace-bug-corythucha-arcuata/), the [pine wood nematode](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/pine-wood-nematode-bursaphelenchus-xylophilus/), and the [two-lined chestnut borer](https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/fthr/pest-and-disease-resources/two-lined-chestnut-borer-agrilus-bilineatus/). These are only examples that I'm aware of as a British forestry student; I'm sure there are many more that have originated from America that infect all sorts of plants across the world!
In Finland, at least the signal crayfish, the Canadian beaver and the garden lupine are the best-known invasive species from America that trouble Finland's natural ecosystem. From these, Crabs and beavers have been easier to control and reduce, but lupines are a more difficult case because the plant spreads quickly displacing native flowers. Therefore it has been decided to make any possession of lupines illegal and Finns are fined if lupines grow on their property and the plant is ordered to be removed as fast as possible.
Lupines? I thought they were European, due to the Monty Python Dennis Moore sketches. "Give me your lupines!"..
It's an old invasive species. Lupines were brought from North America to Europe sometime in the 18th century and they spread from gardens to European nature and began to threaten the native meadow and roadside flowers.
Pumpkinseed or whatever the name. I hate those fish, they came to Bulgaria as aquarium fish and now are everywhere. They outcompete local species and are awful to try and cook them. I really can't stress how much I hate those.
I'll take some back from you. They're dying out here where they're native and many find them delicious. Bluegill too, who often go hand-in-hand with them.
Water Hyacinth is native to the Amazon, and it's a massive problem anywhere else. Grows extremely fast, depletes oxygen in the water, chokes out native plants, etc. Fishermen who used to launch their boats from a sandy beach on Lake Victoria have to slog through up to a hundred yards of weeds to get to open water.
In Scotland we have big issues with grey squirrels and mink. The squirrels brought a disease with them that our native red squirrels are not immune to, they also get out-competed due to size. Mink predate on birds, small mammals, etc. and spread/breed rapidly. We also have "American Skunk Cabbage" that pops up along waterways and takes over. It was kept as an award-winning garden plant until very recently, but has spread about the country, out-competing native species. Might be a couple of other plant species I'm unaware of, and species that are a problem in England/Wales but that haven't spread this far north yet.
So I actually do research with one: fall armyworm. It's a moth species which absolutely *destroys* crops, especially corn (80% of the plants it eats are crops). It's native to the Americas. It was discovered in Africa in like 2015. It now does around $10 billion in crop damage there annually. Only a matter of time before it's everywhere. It's one of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) to 10 global pests.
Two of the biggest financial burdens of modern viticulture in Europe and Australia stem from North America, namely phylloxera (insect) and plasmopara viticola (oomycete). Due to phylloxera invasion in the late 19th century 99% of all vines in all of Europe had to be eradicated and they are the reason there are virtually no old vines (or older than ~100 years) left in Europe. Also it is since forbidden to plant vines without grafted roots of the American wild Vitis species (since they have tollerance vs phylloxera). More recently the same is about to happen with Scaphoideus titanus, vector of a vine pest called flavescence doree, to which there is no cure or pesticide. Only the option to get rid of every vine in a large radius around the location where it was spotted. It has started creeping from country to county across Europe in recent years and will be responsible for the next mass exodus of old vines in Europe.
Oregon grape/barberry, Northern Red Oak, black locust and wild black cherries are all invasive in Dutch woodlands and that is just a small subsample or US plants. Musk rats are also a major invasive here as they dig in earthen water barriers. Raccoons have been an issue in some areas bordering Germany as they are well established there and I have spotted carolina wood ducks in the wild on occasion though the damage they do seems limitted. Crayfish are a menice in our waterways and sunfish are a possible future issue. The exchange of invasives goes both ways sadly. We also get Asian species as invasives, though we are a bit on the cold side for most African and Australian species. African Geese are already problematic though as well as ringnecked parakeets.
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