Alien species as a driver of recent extinctions

Céline Bellard; Phillip Cassey; Tim M Blackburn

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2015.0623

Alien species as a driver of recent extinctions

Biol Lett. 2016 Feb;12(2):20150623. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0623.

Authors

Céline Bellard¹, Phillip Cassey², Tim M Blackburn³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Darwin Building, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
² School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
³ Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, Darwin Building, UCL, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Program, King Saud University, Riyadh 1145, Saudi Arabia t.blackburn@ucl.ac.uk.

Abstract

We assessed the prevalence of alien species as a driver of recent extinctions in five major taxa (plants, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), using data from the IUCN Red List. Our results show that alien species are the second most common threat associated with species that have gone completely extinct from these taxa since AD 1500. Aliens are the most common threat associated with extinctions in three of the five taxa analysed, and for vertebrate extinctions overall.

Keywords: amphibian; bird; mammal; non-native species; plant; reptile.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biodiversity*
Conservation of Natural Resources
Extinction, Biological*
Introduced Species*
Plants*
Vertebrates*