Economic costs of invasive alien species in Mexico

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic costs of IAS (InvaCost) to quantify and describe the economic cost of invasions in Mexico. This description was made across a range of taxonomic, sectoral and temporal variables, and allowed us to identify knowledge gaps within these areas. Overall, costs of invasions in Mexico were estimated at US$ 5.33 billion (i.e., 109) ($MXN 100.84 billion) during the period from 1992 to 2019. Biological invasion costs were split relatively evenly between aquatic (US$ 1.16 billion; $MXN 21.95 billion) and terrestrial (US$ 1.17 billion; $MXN 22.14 billion) invaders, but semi-aquatic taxa dominated (US$ 2.99 billion; $MXN 56.57 billion), with costs from damages to resources four times higher than those from management of IAS (US$ 4.29 billion vs. US$ 1.04 billion; $MXN 81.17 billion vs $MXN 19.68 billion). The agriculture sector incurred the highest costs (US$ 1.01 billion; $MXN 19.1 billion), followed by fisheries (US$ 517.24 million; $MXN 9.79 billion), whilst most other costs simultaneously impacted mixed or unspecified sectors. When defined, costs to Mexican natural protected areas were mostly associated with management actions in terrestrial environments, and were incurred through official authorities via monitoring, control or eradication. On natural protected islands, mainly mammals were managed (i.e. rodents, cats and goats), to a total of US$ 3.99 million, while feral cows, fishes and plants were mostly managed in protected mainland areas, amounting to US$ 1.11 million in total. Pterygoplichthys sp. and Eichhornia crassipes caused the greatest reported costs in unprotected aquatic ecosystems in Mexico, and Bemisia tabaci to terrestrial systems. Although reported damages from invasions appeared to be fluctuating through time in Mexico, management spending has been increasing. These estimates, albeit conservative, underline the monetary pressure that invasions put on the Mexican economy, calling for urgent actions alongside comprehensive cost reporting in national states such as Mexico.

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Economic impact of invasive alien species in Argentina: a first national synthesis

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.67.63208 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 329-348 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Virginia G. Duboscq-Carra ◽

Romina D. Fernandez ◽

Phillip J. Haubrock ◽

Romina D. Dimarco ◽

Elena Angulo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

National Level ◽

Economic Cost ◽

Well Being ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Actual Distribution ◽

Terrestrial Environments

Invasive alien species (IAS) affect natural ecosystems and services fundamental to human well-being, human health and economies. However, the economic costs associated with IAS have been less studied than other impacts. This information can be particularly important for developing countries such as Argentina, where monetary resources for invasion management are scarce and economic costs are more impactful. The present study provides the first analysis of the economic cost of IAS in Argentina at the national level, using the InvaCost database (expanded with new data sources in Spanish), the first global compilation of the reported economic costs of invasions. We analyzed the temporal development of invasions costs, distinguishing costs according to the method reliability (i.e. reproducibility of the estimation methodology) and describing the economic costs of invasions by invaded environment, cost type, activity sector affected and taxonomic group of IAS. The total economic cost of IAS in Argentina between 1995 and 2019 was estimated at US$ 6,908 million. All costs were incurred and 93% were highly reliable. The recorded costs were mainly related to terrestrial environments and the agricultural sector, with lack of costs in other sectors, making it difficult to discuss the actual distribution of invasion costs in Argentina. Nevertheless, the reported costs of IAS in this country are very high and yet likely much underestimated due to important data gaps and biases in the literature. Considering that Argentina has an underdeveloped economy, costs associated with biological invasions should be taken into consideration for preventing invasions, and to achieve a more effective use of available resources.

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Negative effects of the feral donkey Equus asinus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Al-Ula governorate, western Saudi Arabia

Kuwait Journal of Science ◽

10.48129/kjs.10506 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Walid Fathy Mohamed ◽

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Management Actions ◽

Equus Asinus ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Harmful Effects

Alien animals cause drastic and negative impacts on biota and ecosystems. The feral donkey Equus asinus is an invasive alien species in Saudi Arabia. Damage of farms and plant consumed by feral donkeys were studied in the area between Al-Ula and Al-Wajh governorates in order to spot their harmful effects in this region and to propose possible solutions to the problems they caused. Surveys and direct interviews and conversations with farmers and villagers were the selected methods used to collect information. Prevention, and management actions were suggested to decrease numbers of feral donkeys. A useful investment potential was proposed to get some benefits from them.

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

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.67.59185 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 349-374 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

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.

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The recorded economic costs of alien invasive species in Italy

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.67.57747 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 247-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Phillip J. Haubrock ◽

Ross N. Cuthbert ◽

Elena Tricarico ◽

Christophe Diagne ◽

Franck Courchamp ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Grey Literature ◽

Economic Cost ◽

Ecological Impacts ◽

Alien Invasive Species ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Cost Estimates ◽

Taxonomic Groups ◽

The Impact

Whilst the ecological impacts of invasion by alien species have been well documented, little is known of the economic costs incurred. The impacts of invasive alien species on the economy can be wide-ranging, from management costs, to loss of crops, to infrastructure damage. However, details on these cost estimates are still lacking, particularly at national and regional scales. In this study, we use data from the first global assessment of economic costs of invasive alien species (InvaCost), where published economic cost data were systematically gathered from scientific and grey literature. We aimed to describe the economic cost of invasions in Italy, one of the most invaded countries in Europe, with an estimate of more than 3,000 alien species. The overall economic cost of invasions to Italy between 1990 and 2020 was estimated at US$ 819.76 million (EUR€ 704.78 million). This cost was highest within terrestrial habitats, with considerably fewer costs being exclusively associated with aquatic habitats and management methods, highlighting a bias within current literature. There was also a clear indication of informational gaps, with only 15 recorded species with costs. Further, we observed a tendency towards particular taxonomic groups, with insect species accounting for the majority of cost estimates in Italy. Globally, invasion rates are not slowing down and the associated economic impact is thus expected to increase. Therefore, the evaluation and reporting of economic costs need to be improved across taxa, in order to mitigate and efficiently manage the impact of invasions on economies.

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Economic costs of invasive species in Germany

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.67.59502 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 225-246 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Phillip J. Haubrock ◽

Ross N. Cuthbert ◽

Andrea Sundermann ◽

Christophe Diagne ◽

Marina Golivets ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Invasive Species ◽

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Cost Benefit Analysis ◽

American Mink ◽

National Level ◽

Well Being ◽

Published Data ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Management Actions

Invasive alien species are a well-known and pervasive threat to global biodiversity and human well-being. Despite substantial impacts of invasive alien species, quantitative syntheses of monetary costs incurred from invasions in national economies are often missing. As a consequence, adequate resource allocation for management responses to invasions has been inhibited, because cost-benefit analysis of management actions cannot be derived. To determine the economic cost of invasions in Germany, a Central European country with the 4th largest GDP in the world, we analysed published data collected from the first global assessment of economic costs of invasive alien species. Overall, economic costs were estimated at US$ 9.8 billion between 1960 and 2020, including US$ 8.9 billion in potential costs. The potential costs were mostly linked to extrapolated costs of the American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus, the black cherry Prunus serotina and two mammals: the muskrat Ondatra zibethicus and the American mink Neovison vison. Observed costs were driven by a broad range of taxa and mostly associated with control-related spending and resource damages or losses. We identified a considerable increase in costs relative to previous estimates and through time. Importantly, of the 2,249 alien and 181 invasive species reported in Germany, only 28 species had recorded economic costs. Therefore, total quantifications of invasive species costs here should be seen as very conservative. Our findings highlight a distinct lack of information in the openly-accessible literature and governmental sources on invasion costs at the national level, masking the highly-probable existence of much greater costs of invasions in Germany. In addition, given that invasion rates are increasing, economic costs are expected to further increase. The evaluation and reporting of economic costs need to be improved in order to deliver a basis for effective mitigation and management of invasions on national and international economies.

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Economic costs of invasive alien species in Spain

NeoBiota ◽

10.3897/neobiota.67.59181 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 67 ◽

pp. 267-297 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Elena Angulo ◽

Liliana Ballesteros-Mejia ◽

Ana Novoa ◽

Virginia G. Duboscq-Carra ◽

Christophe Diagne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Informed Decision Making ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Management Effectiveness ◽

Lead Agency ◽

Management Actions ◽

Damage Costs ◽

European Regulations ◽

Regional Governments

Economic assessments for invasive alien species (IAS) are an urgent requirement for informed decision-making, coordinating and motivating the allocation of economic and human resources for the management of IAS. We searched for economic costs of IAS occurring in Spain, by using the InvaCost database and requesting data to regional governments and national authorities, which resulted in over 3,000 cost entries. Considering only robust data (i.e. excluding extrapolated, potential (not-incurred or expected) and low reliability costs), economic costs in Spain were estimated at US$ 261 million (€ 232 million) from 1997 to 2022. There was an increase from US$ 4 million per year before 2000 to US$ 15 million per year in the last years (from € 4 to 13 million). Robust data showed that most reported costs of IAS in Spain (> 90%) corresponded to management costs, while damage costs were only found for 2 out of the 174 species with reported costs. Economic costs relied mostly on regional and inter-regional administrations that spent 66% of costs in post-invasion management actions, contrary to all international guidelines, which recommend investing more in prevention. Regional administrations unequally reported costs. Moreover, 36% of the invasive species, reported to incur management costs, were not included in national or European regulations (i.e. Black Lists), suggesting the need to review these policies; besides, neighbouring regions seem to manage different groups of species. We suggest the need of a national lead agency to effectively coordinate actions, facilitate communication and collaboration amongst regional governments, national agencies and neighbouring countries. This will motivate the continuity of long-lasting management actions and the increase in efforts to report IAS costs by regional and inter-regional managers which will adequately provide information for future budgets gaining management effectiveness.

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Legislative Approach in Managing Environment Pollution by Alien Fish Species in Malaysia

Studies of Applied Economics ◽

10.25115/eea.v39i10.5343 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 39 (10) ◽

Author(s):

Asmida Ahmad ◽

Nur Fazini Asro Bt. Ramzi Sulaiman ◽

Nadia Bt. Abu Hasan

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Fish Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Significant Risk ◽

River Pollution ◽

National Committee ◽

Species Lists ◽

Alien Fish ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Alien Fish Species

River pollution has been a major problem in Malaysia and significantly affects the environment. One of the contributing issues would be the spread of invasive alien fish species that has given negative impacts on the environment and ecological disaster, the human health, harming the native animals and plants, as well the economy. Based on the National Committee on Invasive Alien Species Report in 2018, that 46 invasive alien species from a total of 130 species in the established main invasive alien species lists in Malaysia. The alien fishes have been known to make their presence in our dams, lakes and rivers but not much attention has been paid to their existence. Based on these facts, it is proven that the issue poses a significant risk hence an urgent attention is required in managing this pollution through proactive legal measures to enforce strictly the existing law so as to prevent the halt of the spread of invasive species. A legal doctrinal and non-doctrinal modes of research are used to examine and review on the existing laws and/or policy governing this issue. This research will help to provide reference and strategic planning via legal approach for better controlling the invasion in our Malaysian waters.

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

10.1101/2020.12.10.419432 ◽

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.

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Modelling the damage costs of invasive alien species

10.21203/rs.3.rs-380351/v1 ◽

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.

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TEMPORARY REMOVAL: Global economic costs of aquatic invasive alien species

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145238 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 145238

Author(s):

Ross N. Cuthbert ◽

Zarah Pattison ◽

Nigel G. Taylor ◽

Laura Verbrugge ◽

Christophe Diagne ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Invasive Alien Species ◽

Economic Costs

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