Carl Zimmer’s New York Times article, “Turning to Darwin to Solve the Mystery of Invasive Species,” examines the evidence that we have of how certain invasive species thrive in new settings versus those that don’t. One of the things he points to for a proof as to why certain species that originate in places such as Asia thrive and take over in new places such as North America, is that Charles Darwin, in his book “The Origin of Species,” says that we should not be surprised by native species “being beaten and supplanted by the naturalised productions from another land.” Thus Darwin shows us that not only do animals fight for survival of the fittest, but so do plants as they travel across the world.

The main assumption in this article, although one that is backed up by years of research an immense amount of evidence, is that evolution is the best explanation for why certain species thrive over others in the first place. Of course, the author cannot go into a full in-depth analysis of the evidence behind evolution and the things we still have to figure out, because evolution is a fairly agreed-upon theory in general.

The article goes on to explain how scientists have seen that certain species of plants, such as emerald ash borer and Japanese barberry, have come over from foreign places such as Asia and have invaded and overpowered some of the species native to North America. Scientists have been trying to figure out why it is that these plants can invade so effectively, and many are considering Darwin’s prediction to be a good explanation–that these species are simply more aggressive and can survive more easily due to their origins in environments that are tougher than that of which they are invading. Scientists are also pointing to the levels of biodiversity in certain areas compared to others as an originator of the tougher species that are able to invade other environments than their own. The author brings up an example of the Suez Canal, which connects two very different environments — the Red Sea/Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Read Sea and Indian Ocean are two old, very diverse marine environments whereas the Mediterranean Sea is a newer environment with considerably less biodiversity. Scientists saw that the species coming from the Red Sea and Indian Ocean were easily invading and taking over species that were native to the Mediterranean.

The author does point out that this is not a perfect experiment nor is it backed by enough data to be considered the answer to invasive species, but the data that the author collects and explains seems adequate for seriously considering this theory.