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

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.

scholarly journals Blacklists do not necessarily make people curious about invasive alien species. A case study with Bayesian structural time series and Wikipedia searches about invasive mammals in Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacopo Cerri ◽  
Sandro Bertolino ◽  
Lucilla Carnevali ◽  
Andrea Monaco ◽  
Piero Genovesi
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Structural Time Series ◽  
Invasive Mammals ◽  
Structural Time

Blacklists of invasive alien species are a popular tool to manage and prevent biological invasions. Furthermore, by providing accessible examples of invasive alien species and by having a certain media resonance, they can in principle raise the awareness and make laypeople curious towards this topic. However, no study ever tested for this side-effect of blacklists. We tested if the implementation of the first blacklist of invasive alien species of the European concern, by the European Union in August 2016, increased visits to Wikipedia pages about invasive alien mammals in Italy. We adopted Bayesian Structural Time Series, using native mammals as a synthetic control, and we considered both invasive alien mammals that appeared on the list and those which were not included.Following the publication of the first European blacklist of invasive alien species, there was no increase in the amount of weekly visits to the Wikipedia pages about invasive mammals. This was true both for species that were included in the list and those which were not. Rather increased search volumes were syncronous to other events that had media resonance. Our results indicate that important policymaking initiatives, do not necessarily raise public awareness about biological invasions, even when these policies, such as blacklists, are easy to understand and have a certain media coverage. We emphasize the importance of coupling them with adequate communication campaigns and also to develop communication guidelines for the media.

scholarly journals The educational community and its knowledge and perceptions of native and invasive alien species

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro J. Sosa ◽  
Nadia L. Jiménez ◽  
Ana C. Faltlhauser ◽  
Tomás Righetti ◽  
Fernando Mc Kay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Educational Community ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Environment Recognition ◽  
The Impact

AbstractEnvironmental education seeks to foster an appreciation for nature and the impact of humans on it while introducing citizens to scientific thinking. Biological invasions affect different aspects of life on earth and mandate urgent management actions. Education and public awareness are strongly recommended for successful prevention and management of invasive alien species (IAS). This work presents a study on knowledge and perception of the educational community of Argentina about native species and IAS. We designed an on-line semi-structured questionnaire to examine perception of the environment, recognition of native species and IAS and awareness about biological invasions. Educators recognised an important number of biotic components, mostly represented by trees, birds and mammals. Recognition of native species and IAS, and awareness of biological invasions were different between NST (Natural Science Teachers) and non-NST. Respondents had different performances when they were exposed to recognising native species though written names or photographs. Out of 532 respondents, 56% knew what biological invasions are, 21% answered “Maybe” and 23% had never heard about them. We need to foster capacity-building and encourage a two-way communication between educators and scientists, formally and informally, to engage the participation of the whole society in recognition, prevention and management of IAS.

scholarly journals Analysing global economic costs of invasive alien species with the invacost R package

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Leroy ◽  
Andrew M Kramer ◽  
Anne-Charlotte Vaissière ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Christophe Diagne
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Standard Procedure ◽  
R Package ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Global Database

Aim: Large-scale datasets are becoming increasingly available for macroecological research from different disciplines. However, learning their specific extraction and analytical requirements can become prohibitively time-consuming for researchers. We argue that this issue can be tackled with the provision of methodological frameworks published in open-source software. We illustrate this solution with the invacost R package, an open-source software designed to query and analyse the global database on reported economic costs of invasive alien species, InvaCost. Innovations: First, the invacost package provides updates of this dynamic database directly in the analytical environment R. Second, it helps understand the nature of economic cost data for invasive species, their harmonisation process, and the inherent biases associated with such data. Third, it readily provides complementary methods to query and analyse the costs of invasive species at the global scale, all the while accounting for econometric statistical issues. Main conclusions: This tool will be useful for scientists working on invasive alien species, by (i) facilitating access and use to this multi-disciplinary data resource and (ii) providing a standard procedure which will facilitate reproducibility and comparability of studies, one of the major critics of this topic until now. We discuss how the development of this R package was designed as an enforcement of general recommendations for transparency, reproducibility and comparability of science in the era of big data in ecology.

scholarly journals Existing indicators do not adequately monitor progress towards meeting invasive alien species targets

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana Raquel Silva Vicente ◽  
Ana Sofia Vaz ◽  
Mariona Roige ◽  
Marten Winter ◽  
David Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Gap Analysis ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Theory Of Change ◽  
Insufficient Data ◽  
State Response ◽  
The Status ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Pressure State

Monitoring the progress parties have made toward meeting global biodiversity targets requires appropriate indicators. The recognition of Invasive alien species (IAS) as a biodiversity threat has led to the development of specific targets aiming at reducing their prevalence and impact. However, indicators for adequately monitoring and reporting on the status of biological invasions have been slow to emerge, with those that exist being arguably insufficient. We performed a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature to assess the adequacy of existing IAS indicators against a range of policy-relevant and scientifically valid properties. We found that very few indicators have most of the desirable properties, and that existing indicators are unevenly spread across the components of the Driver-Pressure-State-Response and Theory of Change frameworks. We provide three possible reasons for this: i) inadequate attention paid to the requirements of an effective IAS indicator, (ii) insufficient data required to populate and inform policy-relevant, scientifically robust indicators, or (iii) deficient investment in the development and maintenance of IAS indicators. This review includes a gap analysis of where current inadequacies in IAS indicators exist, and provides a roadmap for the future development of indicators capable of measuring progress made toward mitigating and halting biological invasions.

scholarly journals The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)’s Post-2020 target on invasive alien species – what should it include and how should it be monitored?

NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 99-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Essl ◽  
Guillaume Latombe ◽  
Bernd Lenzner ◽  
Shyama Pagad ◽  
Hanno Seebens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Biodiversity Policy ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Main Components

The year 2020 and the next few years are critical for the development of the global biodiversity policy agenda until the mid-21st century, with countries agreeing to a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Reducing the substantial and still rising impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) on biodiversity will be essential if we are to meet the 2050 Vision where biodiversity is valued, conserved, and restored. A tentative target has been developed by the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), and formally submitted to the CBD for consideration in the discussion on the Post-2020 targets. Here, we present properties of this proposal that we regard as essential for an effective Post-2020 Framework. The target should explicitly consider the three main components of biological invasions, i.e. (i) pathways, (ii) species, and (iii) sites; the target should also be (iv) quantitative, (v) supplemented by a set of indicators that can be applied to track progress, and (vi) evaluated at medium- (2030) and long-term (2050) time horizons. We also present a proposed set of indicators to track progress. These properties and indicators are based on the increasing scientific understanding of biological invasions and effectiveness of responses. Achieving an ambitious action-oriented target so that the 2050 Vision can be achieved will require substantial effort and resources, and the cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders.

scholarly journals POPULATION AWARENESS OF THE HARMFULNESS OF SOSNOWSKY'S HOGWEED IN REZEKNE MUNICIPALITY

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 281
Author(s):  
Inta Kotane ◽  
Anda Zvaigzne
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Land Owners ◽  
Data Grouping ◽  
Research Grant

Invasive alien species are one of the most urgent problems to be addressed to maintain biodiversity in the world. Sosnowsky's hogweed (Heracleum sosnowskyi) has been included in Latvia’s list of invasive alien species. The population’s awareness of the problem of Sosnowsky's hogweed may be viewed as one of the preventive measures to avoid the spread of the weed, which also allows optimally using financial resources. Research studies show that the levels of public awareness of Sosnowsky's hogweed and its harmfulness are different. The paper is based on the implementation results for the research grant "Investigation into the Information Society regarding the Control and Hazards of Sosnowsky's Hogweed in Rezekne Municipality”. The research aim of the paper is to examine the Rezekne municipality population’s awareness of the harmfulness of Sosnowsky's hogweed and their wish to acquire or build up their knowledge about the harmfulness of Sosnowsky's hogweed based on the results of a survey/interview of experts and a survey of the population. The research results – the results of the survey and the interview – revealed that the population could identify Sosnowsky's hogweed in nature, and the population, including agricultural land owners/managers were sufficiently informed about the harmfulness of Sosnowsky's hogweed. For the population, the most appropriate way of acquiring information about Sosnowsky's hogweed would be Internet websites, even though the experts considered the websites to be a partly effective way of informing the public. Research methods used: monographic, descriptive, analysis, synthesis, data grouping and sociological methods – a survey/interview of industry experts and a survey of the population.

scholarly journals The global spread and invasion capacities of alien ants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark K. L. Wong ◽  
Evan P Economo ◽  
Benoit Guenard
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Multistage Process ◽  
Species Introductions ◽  
Global Diversity ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
Blind Spots

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.

scholarly journals The economic costs of biological invasions in Central and South America: a first regional assessment

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 401-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Heringer ◽  
Elena Angulo ◽  
Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia ◽  
César Capinha ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Eichhornia Crassipes ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Terrestrial Environment ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Damage Costs ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Region Ii

Invasive alien species are responsible for a high economic impact on many sectors worldwide. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of studies assessing these impacts in Central and South America. Investigating costs of invasions is important to motivate and guide policy responses by increasing stakeholders’ awareness and identifying action priorities. Here, we used the InvaCost database to investigate (i) the geographical pattern of biological invasion costs across the region; (ii) the monetary expenditure across taxa and impacted sectors; and (iii) the taxa responsible for more than 50% of the costs (hyper-costly taxa) per impacted sector and type of costs. The total of reliable and observed costs reported for biological invasions in Central and South America was USD 102.5 billion between 1975 and 2020, but about 90% of the total costs were reported for only three countries (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia). Costs per species were associated with geographical regions (i.e., South America, Central America and Islands) and with the area of the countries in km2. Most of the expenses were associated with damage costs (97.8%), whereas multiple sectors (77.4%), agriculture (15%) and public and social welfare (4.2%) were the most impacted sectors. Aedes spp. was the hyper-costly taxon for the terrestrial environment (costs of USD 25 billion) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) was the hyper-costly taxon for the aquatic environment (USD 179.9 million). Six taxa were classified as hyper-costly for at least one impacted sector and two taxa for at least one type of cost. In conclusion, invasive alien species caused billions of dollars of economic burden in Central and South America, mainly in large countries of South America. Costs caused by invasive alien species were unevenly distributed across countries, impacted sectors, types of costs and taxa (hyper-costly taxa). These results suggest that impacted sectors should drive efforts to manage the species that are draining financial sources.

scholarly journals Invasive species and the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation: how close has Brazil come to achieving Target 10?

Rodriguésia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 1567-1576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele de Sá Dechoum ◽  
Alexandre Bonesso Sampaio ◽  
Sílvia Renate Ziller ◽  
Rafael Dudeque Zenni
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
Environmental Agencies

Abstract Target 10 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation establishes that "Effective management plans are in place to prevent new biological invasions and to manage important areas for plant diversity that are invaded" by 2020. The rationale for the target is that invasive alien species are a major threat to native plants, and thus should be excluded from areas reserved for the conservation of plant species, especially when endemic and/or threatened. In Brazil, although most management plans report the presence of invasive alien species and the need for management in federal protected areas, there are only a very limited number of management plans implemented. The national strategy on invasive alien species, published as CONABIO Resolution 05/2009, has not been implemented, so progress on policies and legislation focused on invasive alien species at the federal level has been slow. In order to reach an effective development of public policies in Brazil, federal environmental agencies must function as focal points and be in charge of coordinating actions aimed at (1) identifying priority areas for preventing and managing biological invasions, and (2) managing invasive alien species and reduce their impacts.

scholarly journals Policy-relevant indicators for invasive alien species assessment and reporting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melodie A. McGeoch ◽  
Eduardo Arlé ◽  
Jonathan Belmaker ◽  
Yehezkel Buba ◽  
David A. Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
Status And Trends ◽  
The Status ◽  
Impact Risk ◽  
Status Information ◽  
Key Dimensions

AbstractInvasive alien species are repeatedly shown to be amongst the top threats to biodiversity globally. Robust indicators for measuring the status and trends of biological invasions are lacking, but essential for monitoring biological invasions and the effectiveness of interventions. Here, we formulate and demonstrate three such indicators that capture the key dimensions of species invasions, each a significant and necessary advance to inform invasive alien species policy targets: 1) Rate of Invasive Alien Species Spread, which provides modelled rates of ongoing introductions of species based on invasion discovery and reporting. 2) Impact Risk, that estimates invasive alien species impacts on the environment in space and time and provides a basis for nationally targeted prioritization of where best to invest in management efforts. 3) Status Information on invasive alien species, that tracks improvement in the essential dimensions of information needed to guide relevant policy and data collection and in support of assessing invasive alien species spread and impact. We show how proximal, model-informed status and trend indicators on invasive alien species can provide more effective global (and national) reporting on biological invasions, and how countries can contribute to supporting these indicators.

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