They are rather self-assured aren’t they. I have a number of them throughout my house at the moment. Great little pest-controllers!
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Introduced and reintroduced Phasianidae that we have seen, like Ring-necked Pheasant
And Wild Turkey (reintroduced in the 1970s)
Want to see partridge!
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The common wall lizard (Podarcis muralis) has a big range in temperate Europe so it makes sense why they can survive in the US. It’s the Italian wall lizard (P. siculus) that is from a warmer climate but somehow managed to survive and establish itself in places like New York City and Boston.
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It has a similar situation, taking it’s northern part of the main range, temps in Milan are pretty much the same as in NYC. And it’s introduced to the further North parts of Europe, so I expect it to survive anywhere with mild winters and not too hot summers.
I love the European Carp and house geckos here.
For the Dominican Republic, I’m going to say the sea-almond.
The local people just call it almond, and they probably have no idea that it is non-native, since it has been part of the culture for so long. It grows among the native trees along the rivers and in other wooded areas, seemingly one of them, not crowding, no monocultures. It is the most common and largest shade tree on the beaches (related to white mangrove), creating that pleasant refuge from the tropic sun. There is a local cottage industry of gathering the nuts, which are sold along the Avenue of the Almonds; this is an important income source for many. When the Avenue of the Almonds is open, you will see the line of little booths on each side of the road displaying the nuts in clear plastic sleeves.
It is also the second most common drift seed (only the native jobo is more abundant), which explains why there are so many along the rivers and seashores. And it isn’t just useful to people. I have one growing on my plot on a ridgetop which came up on its own. How did it get there? The spot where it grew is frequented by a large fruit bat; I believe the bat carried one of the fruits up here, chewed off the flesh, and dropped the seed as too big to swallow. I also have an observation of June beetles eating the leaves at night.
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I despise every alien or introduced species, moreover the ones with the potential to become aggressively invasive. If it falls outside of any orchard, zoo, plantation, or cropland, I will destroy it
There is only 1 alien invasive species that melts my heart - Cats. I know how detrimental they are to native fauna but those buggers are just too cute and too ripe for cuddles
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I thought hard about it, because I really don’t like introduced species, but if I had to choose one, it would be the monk parakeet. They make a city much more tropical :-) Furthermore I’ve only observed them in cities, where they can’t do much damage and they build their own nests (and don’t overtake tree holes from the giant noctule like the ring-necked parakeets in Sevilla).
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If this is in reference to the commonly held belief that they eat primarily other lizards, ie, Anolis sagrei/cristatellus, they don’t actually! Dietary studies have shown that knight anoles are strongly omnivorous, feeding primarily on fruits and arboreal inverts (insects, spiders, gastropods), with the fruit making up a solid 50% or so of their diet and being comprised of native taxa like strangler fig and various palm fruits, the anoles helping to spread the seeds of the royal palm, Roystonea regia (I believe the Florida native populations/ecotypes of this species are endangered as well?)
They do, on rare occasions, take smaller anoles as prey though
but this anecdotal evidence seems to be way overblown compared to how much of their diet is actually made up of vertebrates
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I take a lot more issue with REALLY invasive plants compared to synanthropic animals and weeds that only thrive near human created habitats and disturbance. North America has a ton of native Rubus! And these awful invasives like wineberry and himalayan and armenian blackberry (and their cohorts, at least out east, like multiflora rose and japanese/amur honeysuckle) just kinda crowd out native species in the genus and at large tracts of remnant forests in a sea of urbanization and overgrazing from deer
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Dianthus armeria, a cute little pink flower that never seems to be too common, just a nice addition to all grasslands, natural and not.
I wasn’t referencing that, though that’s interesting. I like to watch them eat Cuban Tree Frogs in my yard
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Ooh nice shot! Been wondering too now if how much they take vertebrate prey might depend on seasonality a bit? Since it seems to comprise very little of their diet regardless, but maybe treefrogs/lizards would be taken more often during the dry season? less things fruiting then and all
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Thank you! … but I’m sure he has already seen it as I entered it into 2022 photography competition a few months ago, and he has my observation favorited.
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Easily Ginkgo biloba for me. Nowhere near naturalized in Canada, but it adds a unique prehistoric touch to urban and suburban spaces.
I see a good majority of replies mention animals. How biased of y’all 
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Ohh, I love Ginkgo trees, that would be my second favorite! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one outside of cultivation though - I guess here in Ohio Ailanthus, Pyrus, Lonicera etc. would always out-compete any possible Ginkgo seedlings, even though they are planted in quite a few places, including female trees for some reason…
I like our introduced mantis species, both Mantis religiosa and Tenodera sinensis. I’m sure they have some negative aspects but the damage is generally assessed as minimal. They’re not densely populated anywhere (despite being in the state for almost 200 years), eat highly abundant invertebrates and have their own predators and threats.
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Ginkgo seeds probably aren’t spread by many north american mammals and birds, since none evolved alongside it or other related species (Ginkgo biloba was the only member of Ginkgoales to survive past the Pliocene). I’d call that a major roadblock to its naturalization.
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