Hi! I’m specifically thinking of plant species, though other examples are welcome (animals, fungi, bacteria). In cases where we have limited documentation on native species, particularly in the New World, how do we know scientifically if a species is not native to a specific region? E.g. how can we look at a fern in Europe or Central America and say, that’s not quite right.
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In the overwhelming amount of cases non-native species are introduced there by humans, either intentionally or unintentionally.
So it almost always occurs in areas that humans regularly inhabit or is easily accessible from nearby areas humans inhabit, and its usually a species we are familiar with already that we can point out and say “i recognize you, you aren’t supposed to be here”.