Naturalisation (biology)

Naturalisation is the ecological process by which a species, taxon, or population of exotic origin becomes integrated into an ecosystem it was not originally part of, establishing a self sustaining population able to reproduce and spread without further help from humans. An introduced species may either die out or become naturalised in its new range; populations that persist only through continued introduction from elsewhere, rather than by breeding true on their own, are instead called adventive, and cultivated plants are a major source of such adventive populations. Determining whether a very old population is genuinely native or was introduced long ago can be difficult, and a species is sometimes classed as naturalised precisely because its true origin can no longer be established. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/