Ecological invaders succeed one another in chains driven by land-use change

Evidence

Thus the English sparrow, rendered innocuous by the shrinkage in horses, was succeeded by the starling, who thrives in the wake of tractors. The chestnut blight, which had no passport beyond the west boundary of chestnuts, is being followed by the Dutch elm disease, with every chance of spreading to the west boundary of elms. The white-pine blister rust, stopped in its westward march by the treeless plains, effected a new landing via the back door, and is now romping down the Rockies from Idaho toward California. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 546

Categorization

• XREF: Pairs with ch6 and ch15 notes on how settler land-use change (fires, farming) restructured ecosystems. — connects to: Overgrazing caused cheat to replace native grasses on foothill rangeland — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 551; Livestock overgrazing can silently convert vast rangeland to a new weed — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 548; Rodent pest explosions actually stem from plant-community derangement — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac: With Other…, 691 (+1 more)