Global threats from invasive alien species in the twenty-first century and national response capacities

By R. Early, Bethany A. Bradley, J. Dukes, Joshua J. Lawler, Julian D. Olden, D. Blumenthal, P. Gonzalez, E. Grosholz, I. Ibáñez, L. Miller and 2 more. Nature Communications, 2016

1,222 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten human livelihoods and biodiversity globally. Increasing globalization facilitates IAS arrival, and environmental changes, including climate change, facilitate IAS establishment. Here we provide the first global, spatial analysis of the terrestrial threat from IAS in light of twenty-first century globalization and environmental change, and evaluate national capacities to prevent and manage species invasions. We find that one-sixth of the global land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion, including substantial areas in developing economies and biodiversity hotspots. The dominant invasion vectors differ between high-income countries (imports, particularly of plants and pets) and low-income countries (air travel). Uniting data on the causes of introduction and establishment can improve early-warning and eradication schemes. Most countries have limited capacity to act against invasions. In particular, we reveal a clear need for proactive invasion strategies in areas with high poverty levels, high biodiversity and low historical levels of invasion. Globalization facilitates the spread of invasive alien species, while environmental change can ease invasion. Here, Early et al. identify vulnerable regions globally and evaluate capacity in vulnerable countries to prevent invasions arising from sources such as air travel, horticulture, and pet trade.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/00da7edcad7cd69ee81a6c1efa017187e0a93054

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Citations in the corpus

Four priority areas to advance invasion science in the face of rapid environmental change (2020, background): “Among the topics this research could address is how countries with varying economic resources can share resources for preventing the global movement of non-native species (Early et al. 2016).”
From eDNA to citizen science: emerging tools for the early detection of invasive species (2020, background): “…Society of America Front Ecol Environ 2020; 18(4): 194–202, doi:10.1002/fee.2162 Biological invasions are one of many forms of anthropogenic change that threaten biodiversity, the structure and function of ecosystems, human health, and the global economy (Ehrenfeld 2010; Bradshaw et al. 2016).”
Global rise in emerging alien species results from increased accessibility of new source pools (2018, background): “In addition, other factors such as changes in environmental conditions or land use may have enabled other alien species to establish, which should also result in an increasing size of candidate species pools (24).”
Niche Breadth: Causes and Consequences for Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (2020, background): “There are often significant time lags between the establishment and spread of many nonnative species (Early et al. 2016), and local adaptation and rapid evolution following establishment can drive subsequent niche expansion (Oduor et al. 2016).”
Projecting the continental accumulation of alien species through to 2050 (2020, neutral): “However, the capacity of most countries to proactively counter the rising tide of alien species is still poor for most regions worldwide (Early et al., 2016), and it seems likely that this will not change substantially in the near future.”
Forecasting the global extent of invasion of the cereal pest Spodoptera frugiperda, the fall armyworm (2018, background): “While the SOM approach is highly valuable, rapidly changing global trade and transportation patterns open invasion routes that pest species rarely travelled in the past (Early et al. 2016; Seebens et al. 2015).”
The status of biological invasions and their management in South Africa (2018, background): “This is because imported goods will only be inspected for alien species at the first port of entry, and most African countries have limited capacity to respond to biosecurity threats (Early et al. 2016).”