The global spread and invasion capacities of alien ants

The ecological and economic impacts of biological invasions are usually highly conspicuous, but these are the outcome of a global, multistage process that is obscured from view. For most taxa, we lack a large-scale picture of the movements of alien species, the biases and filters that promote or inhibit their spread at each stage, and blind spots in our ability to detect species during their spread. For instance, countries rely heavily on customs interceptions to prevent new species introductions, but their efficacy for detecting invaders remains unclear. To address these gaps, we synthesize and provide data at unprecedented geographic resolution on the global diversity and distribution of alien ants, a pervasive group strongly impacting humans and ecosystems. From >145,000 records spanning 602 regions, we identify 522 ant species exhibiting human-mediated spread, doubling recent estimates of their diversity. We show that movements of alien ant species across regions globally are non-random and, moreover, that these flows differ by the extents to which species invade—ranging from arrival to indoor establishment, naturalization, and harmful status. Importantly, we find that almost two-thirds of the 309 species that naturalize globally—most of which are ground- and litter-dwelling—are absent from customs interceptions, which record disproportionately high numbers of arboreal species. Our results illustrate the vast, yet uneven extent of ant invasions globally, and suggest that most alien species bypass biosecurity controls while spreading successfully worldwide. This raises doubts on the efficacy of current customs interceptions procedures and highlights a need for radically new approaches.

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Socioeconomic legacy yields an invasion debt

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1011728108 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 108 (1) ◽

pp. 203-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 272

Author(s):

Franz Essl ◽

Stefan Dullinger ◽

Wolfgang Rabitsch ◽

Philip E. Hulme ◽

Karl Hülber ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Invasions ◽

Alien Species ◽

Vascular Plants ◽

Species Introductions ◽

Socioeconomic Drivers ◽

Invasion Debt ◽

In The Wild ◽

Terrestrial Insects ◽

Taxonomic Groups

Globalization and economic growth are widely recognized as important drivers of biological invasions. Consequently, there is an increasing need for governments to address the role of international trade in their strategies to prevent species introductions. However, many of the most problematic alien species are not recent arrivals but were introduced several decades ago. Hence, current patterns of alien-species richness may better reflect historical rather than contemporary human activities, a phenomenon which might be called “invasion debt.” Here, we show that across 10 taxonomic groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, fungi, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, terrestrial insects, and aquatic invertebrates) in 28 European countries, current numbers of alien species established in the wild are indeed more closely related to indicators of socioeconomic activity from the year 1900 than to those from 2000, although the majority of species introductions occurred during the second half of the 20th century. The strength of the historical signal varies among taxonomic groups, with those possessing good capabilities for dispersal (birds, insects) more strongly associated with recent socioeconomic drivers. Nevertheless, our results suggest a considerable historical legacy for the majority of the taxa analyzed. The consequences of the current high levels of socioeconomic activity on the extent of biological invasions will thus probably not be completely realized until several decades into the future.

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MAcroecological Framework for Invasive Aliens (MAFIA): disentangling large-scale context dependence in biological invasions

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.62.52787 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 62 ◽

pp. 407-461 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Petr Pyšek ◽

Sven Bacher ◽

Ingolf Kühn ◽

Ana Novoa ◽

Jane A. Catford ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Invasions ◽

Alien Species ◽

Large Scale ◽

Propagule Pressure ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Species Traits ◽

Context Dependence ◽

Anthropogenic Effects ◽

Related Factors ◽

Spatio Temporal

Macroecology is the study of patterns, and the processes that determine those patterns, in the distribution and abundance of organisms at large scales, whether they be spatial (from hundreds of kilometres to global), temporal (from decades to centuries), and organismal (numbers of species or higher taxa). In the context of invasion ecology, macroecological studies include, for example, analyses of the richness, diversity, distribution, and abundance of alien species in regional floras and faunas, spatio-temporal dynamics of alien species across regions, and cross-taxonomic analyses of species traits among comparable native and alien species pools. However, macroecological studies aiming to explain and predict plant and animal naturalisations and invasions, and the resulting impacts, have, to date, rarely considered the joint effects of species traits, environment, and socioeconomic characteristics. To address this, we present the MAcroecological Framework for Invasive Aliens (MAFIA). The MAFIA explains the invasion phenomenon using three interacting classes of factors – alien species traits, location characteristics, and factors related to introduction events – and explicitly maps these interactions onto the invasion sequence from transport to naturalisation to invasion. The framework therefore helps both to identify how anthropogenic effects interact with species traits and environmental characteristics to determine observed patterns in alien distribution, abundance, and richness; and to clarify why neglecting anthropogenic effects can generate spurious conclusions. Event-related factors include propagule pressure, colonisation pressure, and residence time that are important for mediating the outcome of invasion processes. However, because of context dependence, they can bias analyses, for example those that seek to elucidate the role of alien species traits. In the same vein, failure to recognise and explicitly incorporate interactions among the main factors impedes our understanding of which macroecological invasion patterns are shaped by the environment, and of the importance of interactions between the species and their environment. The MAFIA is based largely on insights from studies of plants and birds, but we believe it can be applied to all taxa, and hope that it will stimulate comparative research on other groups and environments. By making the biases in macroecological analyses of biological invasions explicit, the MAFIA offers an opportunity to guide assessments of the context dependence of invasions at broad geographical scales.

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Götterbaum und Paulownie: die «neuen Wilden» im Schweizer Wald?

Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen ◽

10.3188/szf.2018.0069 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 169 (2) ◽

pp. 69-76 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jan Wunder ◽

Simon Knüsel ◽

Luuk Dorren ◽

Massimiliano Schwarz ◽

Franck Bourrier ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Biological Invasions ◽

Natural Hazards ◽

Tree Species ◽

Large Scale ◽

Ailanthus Altissima ◽

Paulownia Tomentosa ◽

Pioneer Tree ◽

Integration Approach ◽

Controversial Concept

Ailanthus and Paulownia: “The New Wild” in Swiss forests? “The New Wild” resulting from biological invasions is a controversial concept focussing on the integration of exotic species into indigenous ecosystems. Following this rationale, the great vitality of the new species could be exploited to populate ecosystems heavily altered or largely destroyed by man. Here we discuss this integration approach using the example of Ailanthus altissima and Paulownia tomentosa. Both species have begun to spread spontaneously into some forests in Switzerland. New studies indicate that the two pioneer tree species will not prevail on a large scale and that they do not necessarily reduce the required forest services. For example, Ailanthus trees growing in forests protecting from natural hazards appear to be similarly resistant to rockfall as the local tree species and less affected by heart rot decay than originally feared. For Switzerland, a spatially differentiated strategy with control and integration measures is required.

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A nation-wide analysis of Wikipedia and Google Searches in Italy reveals a growing interest towards biological invasions

10.32942/osf.io/afrpk ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jacopo Cerri ◽

Sandro Bertolino ◽

Lucilla Carnevali ◽

Alessandro Piazzi ◽

Andrea Monaco ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Invasions ◽

Alien Species ◽

Large Scale ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Public Awareness ◽

Public Policies ◽

General Interest ◽

Eu Regulation ◽

Line Searches ◽

General Terms

Biological invasions are a major driver of global change and the target of many public policies. However, we still do not know whether they attract the interest of laypeople and motivate them to know more about this topic. We modeled the temporal evolution of on-line searches about general terms regarding invasive alien species in Italy, on Wikipedia and Google.Wikipedia pages about biological invasions steadily increase their number of views and the GoogleTrends index for queries about invasive species also increased or remained stable, albeit a growing number of searches, between 2010 and 2019. The number of months without searches decreased through time, for both Google and Wikipedia searches. Also, the number of Google searches increased after the first EU regulation 1143/2014 invasive alien species entered in force. All the Wikipedia pages increased their number of views, by a magnitude suggesting that also laypeople contributed to this dynamic.A portion of the Italian society seems to have become interested about biological invasions, at least since 2010, regularly documenting about them on the Internet. This paves the way for increasing public awareness about this phenomenon, as well as citizen engagement in monitoring and management initiatives. The increase in Google searches after the EU Regulation on invasive alien species could indicate that general interest towards biological invasions is influenced also by large-scale public policies.

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Managing biological invasions: the cost of inaction

10.21203/rs.3.rs-300416/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Danish Ali Ahmed ◽

Emma Judith Hudgins ◽

Ross Noel Cuthbert ◽

Melina Kourantidou ◽

Christophe Diagne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Invasions ◽

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Economic Impacts ◽

Logistic Growth ◽

Effective Prevention ◽

Management Interventions ◽

Damage Data ◽

Additional Costs ◽

The Cost

Abstract Ecological and socio-economic impacts from biological invasions are rapidly escalating worldwide. While effective management underpins impact mitigation, such actions are often delayed, insufficient or entirely absent. Presently, management delays emanate from a lack of monetary rationale to invest at early invasion stages, which precludes effective prevention. Here, we provide such rationale by developing a conceptual model, based on logistic growth, to quantify the cost of inaction towards invasive alien species under varying time delays and management efforts. Further, we apply the resulting model to management and damage data from a relatively data-rich genus (Aedes mosquitoes). Our model confirms that rapid management interventions following invasion drastically minimise costs, and that higher management investments lead to much steeper cost declines. Further, we identify a ‘runaway’ point beyond which costs of inaction slowly approach saturation. Any management action during this phase can be considered severely delayed, resulting in substantial losses. For Aedes, we estimated that a management delay of just 20 years could have accrued additional costs of at least US$ 842 million in 40 years, whereas in the case of no management, inaction costs could have been approximately three-fold higher, totalling US$ 2433 million. These results highlight the need for more timely management of invasive alien species by demonstrating how early investments rapidly reduce long-term economic impacts.

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The Evolution of Life Modes in Stictidaceae, with Three Novel Taxa

Journal of Fungi ◽

10.3390/jof7020105 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 105

Author(s):

Vinodhini Thiyagaraja ◽

Robert Lücking ◽

Damien Ertz ◽

Samantha C. Karunarathna ◽

Dhanushka N. Wanasinghe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Large Scale ◽

Sequence Data ◽

Large Subunit ◽

Monte Carlo Sampling ◽

Small Subunit ◽

Sensu Stricto ◽

Internal Transcribed Spacers ◽

Character State ◽

Phenotypic Data

Ostropales sensu lato is a large group comprising both lichenized and non-lichenized fungi, with several lineages expressing optional lichenization where individuals of the same fungal species exhibit either saprotrophic or lichenized lifestyles depending on the substrate (bark or wood). Greatly variable phenotypic characteristics and large-scale phylogenies have led to frequent changes in the taxonomic circumscription of this order. Ostropales sensu lato is currently split into Graphidales, Gyalectales, Odontotrematales, Ostropales sensu stricto, and Thelenellales. Ostropales sensu stricto is now confined to the family Stictidaceae, which includes a large number of species that are poorly known, since they usually have small fruiting bodies that are rarely collected, and thus, their taxonomy remains partly unresolved. Here, we introduce a new genus Ostropomyces to accommodate a novel lineage related to Ostropa, which is composed of two new species, as well as a new species of Sphaeropezia, S. shangrilaensis. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses of mitochondrial small subunit spacers (mtSSU), large subunit nuclear rDNA (LSU), and internal transcribed spacers (ITS) sequence data, together with phenotypic data documented by detailed morphological and anatomical analyses, support the taxonomic affinity of the new taxa in Stictidaceae. Ancestral character state analysis did not resolve the ancestral nutritional status of Stictidaceae with confidence using Bayes traits, but a saprotrophic ancestor was indicated as most likely in a Bayesian binary Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling (MCMC) approach. Frequent switching in nutritional modes between lineages suggests that lifestyle transition played an important role in the evolution of this family.

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One hundred new species of lichenized fungi: a signature of undiscovered global diversity

Phytotaxa ◽

10.11646/phytotaxa.18.1.1 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 113

Author(s):

H. T. Lumbsch ◽

T. Ahti ◽

S. Altermann ◽

G. A. De Paz ◽

A. Aptroot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Lichenized Fungi ◽

Global Diversity

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Five new species and one new genus of recent miliolid foraminifera from Raja Ampat (West Papua, Indonesia)

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2157 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2157

Author(s):

Meena Förderer ◽

Martin R. Langer

Keyword(s):

New Species ◽

Benthic Foraminifera ◽

Large Scale ◽

New Genus ◽

Marine Biodiversity ◽

Sample Material ◽

Micro Computed Tomography ◽

Computed Tomography Images ◽

Nearshore Environments ◽

West Papua

Raja Ampat is an archipelago of about 1,500 small islands located northwest off the Bird’s Head Peninsula of Indonesia’s West Papua province. It is part of the Coral Triangle, a region recognized as the “epicenter” of tropical marine biodiversity. In the course of a large-scale survey on shallow benthic foraminifera we have discovered one new genus and five new species of recent miliolid benthic foraminifera from the highly diverse reefal and nearshore environments. The new fischerinid genusDentoplanispirinellais characterized by its planispiral coiling and by the presence of a simple tooth, that differentiate it fromPlanispirinellaWiesner. It is represented in our sample material by the new speciesDentoplanispirinella occulta. The other four species described herein areMiliolinella moia, Miliolinella undina, Triloculina kaweaandSiphonaperta hallocki.All new species are comparatively rare and occur sporadically in the sample material. Detailed morphological descriptions, scanning electron microscopy pictures of complete and dissected specimens as well as micro-computed tomography images are provided.

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Capacity of countries to reduce biological invasions

10.1101/2021.02.04.429788 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Guillaume Latombe ◽

Hanno Seebens ◽

Bernd Lenzner ◽

Franck Courchamp ◽

Stefan Dullinger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Invasions ◽

Alien Species ◽

Economic Space ◽

Country Level ◽

Management Measures ◽

Ecological Predictors ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Education Innovation ◽

Taxonomic Groups ◽

High Level

AbstractThe extent and impacts of biological invasions on biodiversity are largely shaped by an array of socio-ecological predictors, which exhibit high variation among countries. Yet a global synthetic perspective of how these factors vary across countries is currently lacking. Here, we investigate how a set of five socio-ecological predictors (Governance, Trade, Environmental Performance, Lifestyle and Education, Innovation) explain i) country-level established alien species (EAS) richness of eight taxonomic groups, and ii) country capacity to prevent and manage biological invasions and their impacts. Trade and Governance together best predicted the average EAS richness, increasing variance explained by up to 54% compared to models based on climatic and spatial variables only. Country-level EAS richness increased strongly with Trade, whereas high level of Governance resulted in lower EAS richness. Historical (1996) levels of Governance and Trade better explained response variables than current (2015) levels. Thus, our results reveal a historical legacy of these two predictors with profound implications for the future of biological invasions. We therefore used Governance and Trade to define a two-dimensional socio-economic space in which the position of a country captures its capacity to address issues of biological invasions. Our results provide novel insights into the complex relationship between socio-ecological predictors and biological invasions. Further, we highlight the need for designing better policies and management measures for alien species, and for integrating biological invasions in global environmental scenarios.

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