scholarly journals Introducing AlienScenarios: a project to develop scenarios and models of biological invasions for the 21 st century

NeoBiota ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Essl ◽  
Bernd Lenzner ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Stefan Dullinger ◽  
Jonathan M. Jeschke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Invasion Model ◽  
First Time ◽  
Different Levels

AlienScenarios, a three-year project starting in March 2019, will evaluate for the first time the range of plausible futures of biological invasions for the 21st century. AlienScenarios consists of seven project partners and seven integrated complementary subprojects. We will develop the qualitative narratives for plausible futures of global alien species richness and impacts in the 21st century – the Alien Species Narratives (ASNs). The ASNs further serve as overarching concept to parameterize quantitative models of global, continental and regional futures of biological invasions. We will also establish the first global mechanistic invasion model considering major processes of biological invasions such as source pools, driver dynamics and establishment rates. Further, we will assess the impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) in terms of economic costs according to the different ASNs. In addition, we will assess the consequences of different levels of implementation of the European Union Regulation on IAS. Providing some more detailed regional information, we will analyse changes of the functional composition of communities in mountain regions under different scenario storylines and will extend the analyses to the Global South using Panama as a country-level case study. Finally, the results of the other WPs will be synthesized, and the approach and results of AlienScenarios will be discussed with and communicated to stakeholders and the wider community. AlienScenarios will provide crucially needed insights for pro-active alien species management and policy. It will thus make an important contribution to global assessments and projections of biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as regional policies (e.g. EU regulation on IAS).

scholarly journals The economic costs of biological invasions in Brazil: a first assessment

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 349-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ricardo Pires Adelino ◽  
Gustavo Heringer ◽  
Christophe Diagne ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Lucas Del Bianco Faria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Economic Sectors

Biological invasions are one of the leading causes of global environmental change and their impacts can affect biodiversity, ecosystem services, human health and the economy. Yet, the understanding on the impacts of invasive alien species is still limited and mostly related to alien species outbreaks and losses in agricultural yield, followed by the understanding of the ecological impacts on natural systems. Notably, the economic impacts of biological invasions have rarely been quantified. Brazil has at least 1214 known alien species from which 460 are recognized as invasive alien species. Still, there are no comprehensive estimates of the cost of their impact and management. Here, we aimed at filling this gap by providing a comprehensive estimate of the economic cost of biological invasions in Brazil. In order to quantify these costs for species, ecosystems and human well-being we used the InvaCost database which is the first global compilation of the economic costs of biological invasions. We found that Brazil reportedly spent a minimum of USD 105.53 billions over 35 years (1984–2019), with an average spent of USD 3.02 (± 9.8) billions per year. Furthermore, USD 104.33 billion were due to damages and losses caused by invaders, whereas only USD 1.19 billion were invested in their management (prevention, control or eradication). We also found that recorded costs were unevenly distributed across ecosystems, and socio-economic sectors, and were rarely evaluated and published. We found that the economic costs with losses and damages were substantially greater than those used for prevention, control or eradication of IAS. Since our data show costs reported in Brazil for only 16 invasive alien species, our estimates are likely a conservative minimum of the actual economic costs of biological invasions in Brazil. Taken together, they indicate that invasive alien species are an important cause of economic losses and that Brazil has mostly opted for paying for the damage incurred by biological invasions rather than investing in preventing them from happening.

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 Multilevel Coordination and Cooperation during Implementing Supranational Environmental Legislation: A Case Study on Invasive Alien Species

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1531
Author(s):  
A. Roman ◽  
Volker Mauerhofer
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
International Environmental Agreements ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Realistic View ◽  
Supranational Regulation ◽  
The Impact

Coordination and cooperation are necessary topics to strengthen international environmental agreements that improve action against worldwide challenges towards sustainable development and environmental protection, such as invasive alien species (IAS). This study aims to assess to what extent national and transnational cooperation and coordination influences the implementation of a supranational regulation against IAS based on an example from the European Union (EU). Data is used from a broader study, including 47 responses to an online questionnaire and 22 interviews completed by experts from two countries (Austria and Romania), together with in depth literature. Additionally, the IAS-Regulation is analyzed from the perspective of cooperation and coordination. The terms “cooperation” and “coordination” were found within the text of the IAS-Regulation 11 and nine times respectively, whereas their context was transnational and national levels mainly, and transnational, respectively. It was further acknowledged from the majority of the answers from the survey respondents that the national coordination and cooperation is weaker than the transnational level due to the influence of the national competence distribution. Results from the interviews are separated into ‘transnational’ and ‘national’ cooperation and coordination. They show that the majority of the 47 responses indicate that the distribution of competence is one of the main influencing factors on the implementation. It is concluded that the current situation of cooperation and coordination in Austria and Romania renders it difficult for the European Commission to receive a realistic view about IAS and the implementation of the IAS Regulation in the two countries; hence, it is difficult to offer helpful support especially due to poor national cooperation. The current study can serve as a blueprint for further studies. Even in regional integration contexts beyond the EU, it can prove helpful to assess the impact of different kinds of competence distribution on the implementation of common norms. Thus, this research can path the way innovatively and serve as a comparative example for similar future studies.

The emergence of biological invasions on food chains: a DPSIR analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Faraudello ◽  
Donato Gualtieri ◽  
Zsuzsanna Szeles
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Food Distribution ◽  
Food Chains ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate the emergence of a biological invasion and to explain the potential economic and social consequences on food chains. Straddling between ecology, social sciences, resource management and economics, invasion science is aimed at detecting, understanding and mitigating the impact of biological invasions on receiving ecosystems, including food ecosystems.Design/methodology/approachAfter a theoretical investigation about the main notions relevant for the invasion science, the authors practically review the kind of impacts deriving from biological invasions, mainly under economic, human health, ecosystem and biodiversity criteria.FindingsThe authors apply the DPSIR (Driving forces–pressure-state-impact-response) framework, originally developed in the context of European Environment Agency in this different context in order to assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of Invasive Alien Species (IAS). Responding to this emerging phenomenon, the European Union issues the EU regulation 1143/2014 which is the first strong act on invasive alien species.Originality/valueImplications – Food chains are complex systems that have multiple interdependencies both endogenously and exogenously, such as food production, food transportation, food logistics, food distribution, and so forth. However, it is rarely conceived the impact of invasion systems on the dynamics of food chains, although food sustainability is in turn impacted by how effectively and efficiently the various interdependencies have been designed or are working.

scholarly journals Capacity of countries to reduce biological invasions

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.

scholarly journals Ambitious Advances of the European Union in the Legislation of Invasive Alien Species

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joscha Beninde ◽  
Marietta L. Fischer ◽  
Axel Hochkirch ◽  
Andreas Zink
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
The European Union

scholarly journals Potential impact of invasive alien species on ecosystem services provided by a tropical forested ecosystem: a case study from Montserrat

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 461-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelvin S.-H. Peh ◽  
Andrew Balmford ◽  
Jennifer C. Birch ◽  
Claire Brown ◽  
Stuart H. M. Butchart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Forested Ecosystem

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 A Framework for Assessment of Micro Level Vulnerability to Climate Variability of Farmers: A Case Study in Kerala, India

2021 ◽  
pp. 204-209
Author(s):  
S. Ajmal ◽  
T. Paul Lazarus ◽  
Aswathy Vijayan ◽  
Brigit Joseph ◽  
R. V. Manju
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Empirical Method ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Different Levels

The vulnerability of farmers to climate variability is an important topic of discussion. It varies depending upon diverse factors that disturbing it, likewise, the extent of vulnerability varies according to different levels, i.e.; from a whole country level to an individual level or in other words from macro to micro level. This study attempts to build a framework for the assessment of the microlevel vulnerability of farmers. A vulnerability index was made from normalized values of three major component indices (sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity), which is made up of a selected number of sub components. The study was conducted by selecting respondents from two districts of Kerala, and it was found that this method can be used as an empirical method to interpret the vulnerability to climate variability, keeping the fact that it is only a constrained measure of risk.

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.

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