The way I understood it, invasive simply meant a species that grows and spreads at an aggressive speed in an ecosystem that it did not originate from. Fire ants very much match this definition as they were introduced outside of south Africa into several ecosystems where they spread at an aggressive rate.
That being said, while fire ants are not invasive to South Africa technically, this can be said about all species in the world (that they’re not invasive to SOMEWHERE). I didn’t feel the need to say where I was located in my message since it felt redundant, and as the term invasive should be assumed to talk about how whatever it is, is invasive to somewhere else, wherever that is.
If you zoom out a little and look at the phrasing more than the ant problem, it is classic us defaultism. You can read it all the time here. Maybe you haven’t noticed it, if you’re from the US yourself.
But sentences like “don’t replace your grass lawn with cloverleaf, it’s invasive” can be expected like clockwork.
The european honey bee is also quite often given this title.
Not talking globally
Everyone is constantly talking globally, except US Americans. If I mention something local to me, I always preface that. As do all other participants of the internet. Except for … you know
It’s impossible for fire ants to be invasive in general.
They’re invasive to SOMEWHERE. We don’t all live in the same neighbourhood.
The way I understood it, invasive simply meant a species that grows and spreads at an aggressive speed in an ecosystem that it did not originate from. Fire ants very much match this definition as they were introduced outside of south Africa into several ecosystems where they spread at an aggressive rate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_of_the_World's_Worst_Invasive_Alien_Species has a nice list of examples of species that are simply classified as invasive. Fire ants are on the top 100 list there.
That being said, while fire ants are not invasive to South Africa technically, this can be said about all species in the world (that they’re not invasive to SOMEWHERE). I didn’t feel the need to say where I was located in my message since it felt redundant, and as the term invasive should be assumed to talk about how whatever it is, is invasive to somewhere else, wherever that is.
They are invasive in most places except for a relatively small part of South America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_imported_fire_ant
TBH if you live somewhere where fire ants are native, MOVE.
I’m not going to let the ants win.
My immersion is ruined.
Classic US defaultism. They often have problems understanding the concept of the world wide web.
Invasive fire ants aren’t just a US problem. They’re one of the worst invasive species in the world.
They also never said anything that would suggest they were talking globally. They just said they were an invasive species of ants.
If you zoom out a little and look at the phrasing more than the ant problem, it is classic us defaultism. You can read it all the time here. Maybe you haven’t noticed it, if you’re from the US yourself.
But sentences like “don’t replace your grass lawn with cloverleaf, it’s invasive” can be expected like clockwork.
The european honey bee is also quite often given this title.