Tamarisks good for the environment?

Maybe not (I and other knowledgeable lovers of the Desert Southwest’s environment shudder at the mere thought) but an ecologist and marine biologist make a paradigm-challenging argument that invasive species are often good for their new environment. They even claim invasive species can spur new evolutionary diversity among natives, either on their own or through hybridization with the invaders.

Critics charge that Dov Sax and Steven D. Gaines are wrong on many counts, most of which have to do with human-induced climate change speed, human-induced number and intensity of invasives, etc.

And, I think I’d have to agree, but read the whole story for yourself.