scholarly journals Biological invasions in France: Alarming costs and even more alarming knowledge gaps

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 191-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Renault ◽  
Eléna Manfrini ◽  
Boris Leroy ◽  
Christophe Diagne ◽  
Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Ambrosia Artemisiifolia ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Damage Costs ◽  
Asian Tiger ◽  
History Of ◽  
French Overseas Territories ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences

The ever-increasing number of introduced species profoundly threatens global biodiversity. While the ecological and evolutionary consequences of invasive alien species are receiving increasing attention, their economic impacts have largely remained understudied, especially in France. Here, we aimed at providing a general overview of the monetary losses (damages caused by) and expenditures (management of) associated with invasive alien species in France. This country has a long history of alien species presence, partly due to its long-standing global trade activities, highly developed tourism, and presence of overseas territories in different regions of the globe, resulting in a conservative minimum of 2,750 introduced and invasive alien species. By synthesizing for the first time the monetary losses and expenditures incurred by invasive alien species in Metropolitan France and French overseas territories, we obtained 1,583 cost records for 98 invasive alien species. We found that they caused a conservative total amount ranging between US$ 1,280 million and 11,535 million in costs over the period 1993–2018. We extrapolated costs for species invading France, for which costs were reported in other countries but not in France, which yielded an additional cost ranging from US$ 151 to 3,030 millions. Damage costs were nearly eight times higher than management expenditure. Insects, and in particular the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus and the yellow fever mosquito Ae. aegypti, totalled very high economic costs, followed by non-graminoid terrestrial flowering and aquatic plants (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Ludwigia sp. and Lagarosiphon major). Over 90% of alien species currently recorded in France had no costs reported in the literature, resulting in high biases in taxonomic, regional and activity sector coverages. To conclude, we report alarming costs and even more alarming knowledge gaps. Our results should raise awareness of the importance of biosecurity and biosurveillance in France, and beyond, as well as the crucial need for better reporting and documentation of cost data.

Dealing with invasive alien species in the French overseas territories: results and benefits of a 7-year Initiative

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 545-554
Author(s):  
Yohann Soubeyran ◽  
Jean-Yves Meyer ◽  
Marc Lebouvier ◽  
Benoit De Thoisy ◽  
Christophe Lavergne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
French Overseas Territories ◽  
Overseas Territories

Austria before Austria: The Medieval Past of Polities to Come

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herwig Wolfram
Keyword(s):  
History Textbooks ◽  
German History ◽  
French History ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come ◽  
First Dynasty ◽  
People Search ◽  
French Overseas Territories ◽  
Overseas Territories

Throughout the world, historians expand the history of their nations and states into periods when these polities did not yet exist. The French speak of their first dynasty and mean the Frankish Merovingians. Until recently French history textbooks even for students in the French overseas territories started with “Nos ancêtres, les Gaulois.” In the German Kaiserreich between 1871 and 1918, let us say, little Jan Kowalski in Poznan had to accept the Germanic peoples as his forefathers, as every textbook on German history dealt with them at length. Needless to say, not only German medievalists speak of Germans long before theodiscus or teutonicus came to mean deutsch. All over the world people search for the roots of their identity. Take, for instance, the present preoccupation with Celtic ancestors. Not only the Irish, Welsh, Scots, and Bretons, but a great many other Europeans also want to be Celts by origin. “Their successors in Brittany, Wales, or Ireland do not threaten anybody with Anschluss or war. The Celtic origins, therefore, fit the Austrian neutrality perfectly well,” as Erich Zöllner ironically put it in 1976 after Chancellor Bruno Kreisky had openly declared that the Celts and not the Germans were our forefathers.

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 Interaction of traffic intensity and habitat features shape invasion dynamics of an invasive alien species (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) in a regional road network

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 155-175
Author(s):  
Andreas Lemke ◽  
Sascha Buchholz ◽  
Ingo Kowarik ◽  
Uwe Starfinger ◽  
Moritz von der Lippe
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Road Network ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Ambrosia Artemisiifolia ◽  
Traffic Intensity ◽  
Habitat Features ◽  
Road Corridors

Road corridors are important conduits for plant invasions, and an understanding of the underlying mechanisms is necessary for efficient management of invasive alien species in road networks. Previous studies identified road type with different traffic volumes as a key driver of seed dispersal and abundance of alien plants along roads. However, how the intensity of traffic interacts with the habitat features of roadsides in shaping invasion processes is not sufficiently understood. To elucidate these interactions, we analyzed the population dynamics of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.), a common non-indigenous annual species in Europe and other continents, in a regional road network in Germany. Over a period of five years, we recorded plant densities at roadsides along four types of road corridors, subject to different intensities of traffic, and with a total length of about 300 km. We also classified roadsides in regard to habitat features (disturbance, shade). This allowed us to determine corridor- and habitat-specific mean population growth rates and spatial-temporal shifts in roadside plant abundances at the regional scale. Our results show that both traffic intensity and roadside habitat features significantly affect the population dynamics of ragweed. The combination of high traffic intensity and high disturbance intensity led to the highest mean population growth whereas population growth in less suitable habitats (e.g. shaded roadsides) declined with decreasing traffic intensity. We conclude that high traffic facilitates ragweed invasion along roads, likely due to continued seed dispersal, and can compensate partly for less suitable habitat features (i.e. shade) that decrease population growth along less trafficked roads. As a practical implication, management efforts to decline ragweed invasions within road networks (e.g. by repeated mowing) should be prioritized along high trafficked roads, and roadside with disturbed, open habitats should be reduced as far as possible, e.g. by establishing grassland from the regional species pool.

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 Suicide in French Polynesia: a retrospective analysis based on medicolegal documents and interview with family

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (9) ◽  
pp. 030006052110034
Author(s):  
Stephane Amadéo ◽  
Moerani Rereao ◽  
Germaine Vanquin David ◽  
NgocLam Nguyen ◽  
Monique Séguin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Attempts ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
French Polynesia ◽  
Epidemiological Surveillance ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Prevention Programmes ◽  
History Of ◽  
French Overseas Territories ◽  
Overseas Territories

Objective To analyse the epidemiological data on suicide in French Polynesia (FP). Methods Data on suicides were collected from the Public Health Direction, Judicial Police Investigations Court of Justice records, the Centre d’Opérations et de Renseignements de la Gendarmerie, patient records for those hospitalized in psychiatry and from psychological autopsies. Results The dataset consisted of 316 suicide cases in FP over 25 years (1992–2016). In FP, suicide was more frequent in men (sex ratio 3.2:1), young people (mean age, 34.4 years) and individuals with previously diagnosed psychiatric disorders (100 of 316; 31.6%) The most common method of suicide was hanging (276 of 316; 87.3%). A history of previous suicide attempts was found in 25 of 56 (44.6%) of suicide cases, when documented. The most common potential triggering factors for suicide were emotional problems. The suicide rates have remained stable during 1992–2016 (mean 10.6/100 000 inhabitants per year), with periods of economic crises increasing suicide rates. Conclusions These results provide valuable information to enable the effective targeting of suicide prevention strategies toward those at high risk. Economic crises had larger impacts in the French overseas territories than mainland France. Given the unprecedented economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in FP, there is an urgent need to implement suicide epidemiological surveillance and prevention programmes.

INTRODUCED SPECIES IN SINGAPORE: AN OVERVIEW

COSMOS ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 23-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
DARREN C. J. YEO ◽  
CHERYL S. W. CHIA
Keyword(s):  
Biological Invasion ◽  
Alien Species ◽  
Introduced Species ◽  
Invasive Alien Species ◽  
Knowledge Gaps

An overview of the invasive alien species situation in Singapore is presented. An updated checklist of introduced or alien animals in Singapore is provided; of the 142 species of invertebrates and vertebrates documented, more than 70% are considered established. A brief introduction and discussion of pertinent definitions and terminology for describing invasive alien species, with particular reference to Singapore, is included. In addition, important pathways for biological invasion into Singapore are highlighted, and legislation and institutional roles with respect to alien species issues in Singapore are summarized, featuring examples of management programmes. The article concludes by identifying areas emphasized in recently published alien species research in Singapore and knowledge gaps that need to be filled.

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.

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.

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