Recent advances in availability and synthesis of the economic costs of biological invasions

Danish A Ahmed; Phillip J Haubrock; Ross N Cuthbert; Alok Bang; Ismael Soto; Paride Balzani; Ali Serhan Tarkan; Rafael L Macêdo; Laís Carneiro; Thomas W Bodey; Francisco J Oficialdegui; Pierre Courtois; Melina Kourantidou; Elena Angulo; Gustavo Heringer; David Renault; Anna J Turbelin; Emma J Hudgins; Chunlong Liu; Showkat A Gojery; Ugo Arbieu; Christophe Diagne; Boris Leroy; Elizabeta Briski; Corey J A Bradshaw; Franck Courchamp

doi:10.1093/biosci/biad060

Recent advances in availability and synthesis of the economic costs of biological invasions

Bioscience. 2023 Aug 22;73(8):560-574. doi: 10.1093/biosci/biad060. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Danish A Ahmed¹, Phillip J Haubrock^{1

2

3}, Ross N Cuthbert⁴, Alok Bang^{5

6

7}, Ismael Soto³, Paride Balzani³, Ali Serhan Tarkan^{8

9}, Rafael L Macêdo^{10

11

12}, Laís Carneiro¹³, Thomas W Bodey¹⁴, Francisco J Oficialdegui³, Pierre Courtois¹⁵, Melina Kourantidou^{16

17}, Elena Angulo¹⁸, Gustavo Heringer^{19

20}, David Renault²¹, Anna J Turbelin^{22

23}, Emma J Hudgins²⁴, Chunlong Liu^{25

26}, Showkat A Gojery²⁷, Ugo Arbieu^{22

28

29}, Christophe Diagne³⁰, Boris Leroy³¹, Elizabeta Briski³², Corey J A Bradshaw^{33

34}, Franck Courchamp²²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Applied Mathematics and Bioinformatics, Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Hawally, Kuwait.
² Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt,Gelnhausen, Germany.
³ South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Vodňany, Czech Republic.
⁴ Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences at Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, NorthernIreland.
⁵ School of Arts and Sciences at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, India.
⁶ School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University, Bhopal, India.
⁷ Society for Ecology, Evolution, and Development, Wardha, India.
⁸ Department of Basic Sciences in the Faculty of Fisheries at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, in Muğla, Turkey.
⁹ Department of Life and Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Bournemouth University, Poole, Dorset, England, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Graduate Program in Conservation and Ecotourism at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil.
¹¹ Institute of Biology at Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
¹² Neotropical Limnology Group, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro State, Brasil.
¹³ Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação in the Departamento de Engenharia Ambiental, Setor de Tecnologia, at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.
¹⁴ School of Biological Sciences at King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom.
¹⁵ Centre for Environmental Economics-Montpellier, National Institute for Research in Agriculture and the Environment, Montpellier, France.
¹⁶ Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg Ø, Denmark.
¹⁷ Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Plouzané, France.
¹⁸ Estación Biológica de Doñana, Seville, Spain.
¹⁹ Departamento de Ecologia e Conservação in the Instituto de Ciências Naturais at the Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
²⁰ Nürtingen-Geislingen University, Nürtingen, Germany.
²¹ Centre National de Recherche Scientifique's Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution, University of Rennes, Rennes, France.
²² Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
²³ Great Lakes Forestry Centre at Canadian Forestry Services, part of Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada.
²⁴ Department of Biology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
²⁵ College of Fisheries at the Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.
²⁶ Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
²⁷ Department of Botany at the University of Kashmir, Kashmir, India.
²⁸ Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
²⁹ Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, at the National Zoological Park, Front Royal, Virginia, United States.
³⁰ Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations, at Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Montferrier-sur-Lez Cedex, France.
³¹ Unité Biologie des Organismes et des Ecosystèmes Aquatiques, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, Université de Caen Normandie, Université des Antilles, in Paris, France.
³² GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
³³ Global Ecology Laboratory, Partuyarta Ngadluku Wardli Kuu, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
³⁴ ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Biological invasions are a global challenge that has received insufficient attention. Recently available cost syntheses have provided policy- and decision makers with reliable and up-to-date information on the economic impacts of biological invasions, aiming to motivate effective management. The resultant InvaCost database is now publicly and freely accessible and enables rapid extraction of monetary cost information. This has facilitated knowledge sharing, developed a more integrated and multidisciplinary network of researchers, and forged multidisciplinary collaborations among diverse organizations and stakeholders. Over 50 scientific publications so far have used the database and have provided detailed assessments of invasion costs across geographic, taxonomic, and spatiotemporal scales. These studies have provided important information that can guide future policy and legislative decisions on the management of biological invasions while simultaneously attracting public and media attention. We provide an overview of the improved availability, reliability, standardization, and defragmentation of monetary costs; discuss how this has enhanced invasion science as a discipline; and outline directions for future development.

Keywords: InvaCost; economic impacts; environmental management; guiding policy; invasive alien species.