Nilaparvata lugens
(Homoptera: Delphacidae)
brown planthopper
Photo by Merle Shepard

Natural environmental conditions control where plants and animals may successfully live. If an invasive species doesn’t have adequate environmental conditions, it may be able to survive at that location but never become invasive. For plants, major environmental conditions include temperature ranges, soil type, amount of rainfall, time of year when rainfall occurs, and the amount of light. Insects also have specific environmental conditions including species of host plants present, temperature ranges, amount of rainfall, and time of year when rainfall occurs, among others. It is also possible that when an insect is moved to a new location where its preferred hosts are not present, the insect species may start feeding on new plant species and become a pest on them.