Growing up in the U.S., I was warned at various times of the dire consequences of a variety of introduced pests (usually insects).
Japanese beetles, gypsy moths, and most recently the brown marmorated stink bug are all introduced pests that, at various times, were described as serious threats to our ecology.
These threats aren't confined to arthropods, either. The giant African land snail is causing a stir in Florida (indeed, Florida seems to suffer from an excessive variety of introduced species.
"Lack of native predators" is frequently cited as the primary reason many invasive species are considered such a risk to the ecology.
I understand that these introduced species can place tremendous pressure on native species that fill similar ecological niches, and may even push these species out of the region due to competition for food and habitat. However, do the overall ecologies that these species are introduced to adjust over long periods of time?
The numbers of Japanese beetles and gypsy moths don't seem anywhere as high as when I was a child. Has the ecosystem adjusted, or has the overpopulation self-corrected as the species ran low on food through over-consumption? Or are the populations still just as problematic now as they were 30 years ago, and I just am not seeing the bigger picture?
What is the long-term impact that we've seen from invasive, introduced species? Is there a significant difference on the long-term impact between introduced flora, arthropods, or mammals?