scholarly journals Global rise in emerging alien species results from increased accessibility of new source pools

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (10) ◽  
pp. E2264-E2273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanno Seebens ◽  
Tim M. Blackburn ◽  
Ellie E. Dyer ◽  
Piero Genovesi ◽  
Philip E. Hulme ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Invasion History ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Risk Assessment Tools ◽  
Rate Of Emergence

Our ability to predict the identity of future invasive alien species is largely based upon knowledge of prior invasion history. Emerging alien species—those never encountered as aliens before—therefore pose a significant challenge to biosecurity interventions worldwide. Understanding their temporal trends, origins, and the drivers of their spread is pivotal to improving prevention and risk assessment tools. Here, we use a database of 45,984 first records of 16,019 established alien species to investigate the temporal dynamics of occurrences of emerging alien species worldwide. Even after many centuries of invasions the rate of emergence of new alien species is still high: One-quarter of first records during 2000–2005 were of species that had not been previously recorded anywhere as alien, though with large variation across taxa. Model results show that the high proportion of emerging alien species cannot be solely explained by increases in well-known drivers such as the amount of imported commodities from historically important source regions. Instead, these dynamics reflect the incorporation of new regions into the pool of potential alien species, likely as a consequence of expanding trade networks and environmental change. This process compensates for the depletion of the historically important source species pool through successive invasions. We estimate that 1–16% of all species on Earth, depending on the taxonomic group, qualify as potential alien species. These results suggest that there remains a high proportion of emerging alien species we have yet to encounter, with future impacts that are difficult to predict.

scholarly journals Modelling the damage costs of invasive alien species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danish A. Ahmed ◽  
Emma J. Hudgins ◽  
Ross N. Cuthbert ◽  
Phillip J. Haubrock ◽  
David Renault ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Logistic Growth ◽  
Qualitative Properties ◽  
Dynamical Approach ◽  
Damage Costs

Abstract The rate of biological invasions is growing unprecedentedly, threatening ecological and socioeconomic systems worldwide. Quantitative understandings of invasion temporal trajectories are essential to discern current and future economic impacts of invaders, and then to inform future management strategies. Here, we examine the temporal trends of cumulative invasion costs by developing and testing a novel mathematical model with a population dynamical approach based on logistic growth. This model characterises temporal cost developments into four curve types (I - IV), each with distinct mathematical and qualitative properties, allowing for the parameterization of maximum cumulative costs, carrying capacities and growth rates. We test our model using damage cost data for eight genera (Rattus, Aedes, Canis, Oryctolagus, Sturnus, Ceratitis, Sus and Lymantria) extracted from the InvaCost database – which is the most up-to-date and comprehensive global compilation of economic cost estimates associated with invasive alien species. We find fundamental differences in the temporal dynamics of damage costs among genera, indicating they depend on invasion duration, species ecology and impacted sectors of economic activity. The fitted cost curves indicate a lack of broadscale support for saturation between invader density and impact, including for Canis, Oryctolagus and Lymantria, whereby costs continue to increase with no sign of saturation. For other taxa, predicted saturations may arise from data availability issues resulting from an underreporting of costs in many invaded regions. Overall, this population dynamical approach can produce cost trajectories for additional existing and emerging species, and can estimate the ecological parameters governing the linkage between population dynamics and cost dynamics.

scholarly journals Modelling the damage costs of invasive alien species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danish A. Ahmed ◽  
Emma J. Hudgins ◽  
Ross N. Cuthbert ◽  
Phillip J. Haubrock ◽  
David Renault ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Logistic Growth ◽  
Qualitative Properties ◽  
Dynamical Approach ◽  
Damage Costs

AbstractThe rate of biological invasions is growing unprecedentedly, threatening ecological and socioeconomic systems worldwide. Quantitative understandings of invasion temporal trajectories are essential to discern current and future economic impacts of invaders, and then to inform future management strategies. Here, we examine the temporal trends of cumulative invasion costs by developing and testing a novel mathematical model with a population dynamical approach based on logistic growth. This model characterises temporal cost developments into four curve types (I–IV), each with distinct mathematical and qualitative properties, allowing for the parameterization of maximum cumulative costs, carrying capacities and growth rates. We test our model using damage cost data for eight genera (Rattus, Aedes, Canis, Oryctolagus, Sturnus, Ceratitis, Sus and Lymantria) extracted from the InvaCost database—which is the most up-to-date and comprehensive global compilation of economic cost estimates associated with invasive alien species. We find fundamental differences in the temporal dynamics of damage costs among genera, indicating they depend on invasion duration, species ecology and impacted sectors of economic activity. The fitted cost curves indicate a lack of broadscale support for saturation between invader density and impact, including for Canis, Oryctolagus and Lymantria, whereby costs continue to increase with no sign of saturation. For other taxa, predicted saturations may arise from data availability issues resulting from an underreporting of costs in many invaded regions. Overall, this population dynamical approach can produce cost trajectories for additional existing and emerging species, and can estimate the ecological parameters governing the linkage between population dynamics and cost dynamics.

scholarly journals CONTAIN: Optimising the long-term management of invasive alien species using adaptive management

NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 119-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Lambin ◽  
David Burslem ◽  
Paul Caplat ◽  
Thomas Cornulier ◽  
Gabriella Damasceno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Adaptive Management ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
American Mink ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Grass Species ◽  
Management Actions

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) threaten biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, modify landscapes and impose costs to national economies. Management efforts are underway globally to reduce these impacts, but little attention has been paid to optimising the use of the scarce available resources when IAS are impossible to eradicate, and therefore population reduction and containment of their advance are the only feasible solutions. CONTAIN, a three-year multinational project involving partners from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the UK, started in 2019. It develops and tests, via case study examples, a decision-making toolbox for managing different problematic IAS over large spatial extents. Given that vast areas are invaded, spatial prioritisation of management is necessary, often based on sparse data. In turn, these characteristics imply the need to make the best decisions possible under likely heavy uncertainty. Our decision-support toolbox will integrate the following components: (i) the relevant environmental, social, cultural, and economic impacts, including their spatial distribution; (ii) the spatio-temporal dynamics of the target IAS (focusing on dispersal and population recovery); (iii) the relationship between the abundance of the IAS and its impacts; (iv) economic methods to estimate both benefits and costs to inform the spatial prioritisation of cost-effective interventions. To ensure that our approach is relevant for different contexts in Latin America, we are working with model species having contrasting modes of dispersal, which have large environmental and/or economic impacts, and for which data already exist (invasive pines, privet, wasps, and American mink). We will also model plausible scenarios for data-poor pine and grass species, which impact local people in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. We seek the most effective strategic management actions supported by empirical data on the species’ population dynamics and dispersal that underpin reinvasion, and on intervention costs in a spatial context. Our toolbox serves to identify key uncertainties driving the systems, and especially to highlight gaps where new data would most effectively reduce uncertainty on the best course of action. The problems we are tackling are complex, and we are embedding them in a process of co-operative adaptive management, so that both researchers and managers continually improve their effectiveness by confronting different models to data. Our project is also building research capacity in Latin America by sharing knowledge/information between countries and disciplines (i.e., biological, social and economic), by training early-career researchers through research visits, through our continuous collaboration with other researchers and by training and engaging stakeholders via workshops. Finally, all these activities will establish an international network of researchers, managers and decision-makers. We expect that our lessons learned will be of use in other regions of the world where complex and inherently context-specific realities shape how societies deal with IAS.

Inference on the invasion history of invasive alien species based on molecular methods

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
万宣伍 WAN Xuanwu ◽  
刘映红 LIU Yinghong ◽  
罗林明 LUO Linming ◽  
封传红 FENG Chuanhong ◽  
王胜 WANG Sheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Molecular Methods ◽  
Invasion History ◽  
History Of

scholarly journals Economic costs of invasive alien species across Europe

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 153-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip J. Haubrock ◽  
Anna J. Turbelin ◽  
Ross N. Cuthbert ◽  
Ana Novoa ◽  
Nigel G. Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Damage Costs ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
The Uk

Biological invasions continue to threaten the stability of ecosystems and societies that are dependent on their services. Whilst the ecological impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) have been widely reported in recent decades, there remains a paucity of information concerning their economic impacts. Europe has strong trade and transport links with the rest of the world, facilitating hundreds of IAS incursions, and largely centralised decision-making frameworks. The present study is the first comprehensive and detailed effort that quantifies the costs of IAS collectively across European countries and examines temporal trends in these data. In addition, the distributions of costs across countries, socioeconomic sectors and taxonomic groups are examined, as are socio-economic correlates of management and damage costs. Total costs of IAS in Europe summed to US$140.20 billion (or €116.61 billion) between 1960 and 2020, with the majority (60%) being damage-related and impacting multiple sectors. Costs were also geographically widespread but dominated by impacts in large western and central European countries, i.e. the UK, Spain, France, and Germany. Human population size, land area, GDP, and tourism were significant predictors of invasion costs, with management costs additionally predicted by numbers of introduced species, research effort and trade. Temporally, invasion costs have increased exponentially through time, with up to US$23.58 billion (€19.64 billion) in 2013, and US$139.56 billion (€116.24 billion) in impacts extrapolated in 2020. Importantly, although these costs are substantial, there remain knowledge gaps on several geographic and taxonomic scales, indicating that these costs are severely underestimated. We, thus, urge increased and improved cost reporting for economic impacts of IAS and coordinated international action to prevent further spread and mitigate impacts of IAS populations.

scholarly journals Reducing uncertainty in impact assessments for alien species

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Clarke ◽  
David J. Palmer ◽  
Chris McGrannachan ◽  
Treena I. Burgess ◽  
Steven L. Chown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
The Impact

AbstractImpact assessment is a widely used and cost-effective tool for prioritising invasive alien species. With the number of alien and invasive alien species expected to increase, reliance on impact assessment tools for the identification of species that pose the greatest threats will continue to grow. Given the importance of such assessments for management and resource allocation, it is critical to understand the uncertainty involved and what effect this may have on the outcome. Using an uncertainty typology and insects as a model taxon, we identified and classified the sources and types of uncertainty when performing impact assessments on alien species. We assessed 100 alien insect species across two rounds of assessments with each species independently assessed by two assessors. Agreement between assessors was relatively low for all three EICAT components (mechanism, severity, confidence) after the first round. For the second round, we revised guidelines and gave assessors access to each other’s assessments which improved agreement by between 20-30%. Of the 12 potential reasons for assessment discrepancies identified a priori, 11 occurred. The most frequent sources (and types) of uncertainty (i.e. differences between assessment outcomes for the same species) were: incomplete information searches (systematic error), unclear mechanism and/or extent of impact (subjective judgment due to a lack of knowledge), and limitations of the assessment framework (context dependence). In response to these findings, we identify actions to reduce uncertainty in the impact assessment process, particularly for assessing speciose taxa with diverse life histories such as Insecta. Evidence of environmental impact was available for most insect species, and (of the non-random original subset of species assessed) 14 or 29% of those with evidence were identified as high impact species (with either ‘Major’ or ‘Massive’ impact). Although uncertainty in risk assessment, including impact assessments, can never be eliminated, identifying and communicating its source and variety is a first step toward its reduction and a more reliable assessment outcome, regardless of the taxa being assessed.

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