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Biological invasions are a major threat to ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being, resulting in ecosystem degradation and causing economic costs in the multi-trillions of euros globally. A study led by McGill University sheds light on the stark economic cost resulting from biological invasions in the European Union (EU). Most invasive alien species are not adequately assessed for their actual and potential economic impacts therefore most cost estimates are grossly underestimated, say the researchers. To fill this gap, the team quantified the economic costs of biological invasions to the European Union, while estimating future invasion costs using predictive models.

The Herpetological Research Team at the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center uses innovative tools to investigate the invasion and spread of American bullfrogs in Washington and Oregon and understand how bullfrogs are interacting with native amphibians.

The Center for Invasive Species Management closed in 2015. Archives of relevant materials are available here.

The yield losses attributed to Asian citrus greening disease once established can be devastating. If the disease continues to spread unabated in the citrus growing regions of East Africa, the annual value of lost production could potentially reach up to US $127 million over the next ten to 15 years, according to a recent paper published by CABI. The paper, The Asian Citrus Greening Disease (Huanglongbing): Evidence Note on Invasiveness and Potential Economic Impacts for East Africa (Jun 2021) [PDF, 2.9 MB], provides a review of the global literature on Asian citrus disease or huanglongbing (HLB) and estimates its potential economic impact on East Africa. The paper also makes recommendations for biosecurity preparedness, surveillance and management options to help decision-makers and citrus growers.

Restoring islands through the removal of non-native invasive mammals is a powerful biodiversity conservation tool. This new study now shows that human communities on islands could benefit from restoration actions, which can potentially reduce or eliminate the burden of diseases transmitted to people by invasive species. Simply put, removal of invasive species can benefit human health in addition to ecological health.

The global increase in biological invasions is placing growing pressure on the management of ecological and economic systems. However, the effectiveness of current management expenditure is difficult to assess due to a lack of standardised measurement across spatial, taxonomic and temporal scales.

Research Highlights:

• Since 1960, management for biological invasions totalled at least $95.3 billion.
• Damage costs from invasions were substantially higher ($1130.6 billion).
• Pre-invasion management spending is 25-times lower than post-invasion.
• Management and damage costs are increasing rapidly over time.
• Proactive management substantially reduces future costs at the trillion-$ scale.

Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) is one of the worst invasive plants in the South. It dominates the shrub layer and often becomes the only shrub underneath trees, especially in streamside areas. But insects and spiders living in fallen leaves and leaf litter were not affected by a privet invasion in Georgia, as a recent study shows.

Chinese tallow tree (Triadica sebifera) is a nonnative, invasive tree whose decaying leaf litter alters water quality and the microbial community in the wetland habitats. This negatively impacts the lifecycle of semi-aquatic species like frogs.

See in particular Chapter 3: Freshwater, Wetlands, Biodiversity and Human Health, section 5.1 "Aquatic Invasive Alien Species" and Chapter 7: Infectious Diseases, section 2.3.4 "Implications of Biotic Exchange (Invasive Alien Species)".

Louisiana is home to some of the most destructive invasive species found in the United States. The LSU AgCenter has long worked to monitor and manage these non-native insects, weeds and wildlife. To better understand and control invasive species, the LSU AgCenter is developing a Center of Research Excellence for the Study of Invasive Species. The Louisiana Board of Regents approved the creation of the center on Sept. 20.

These data sheets are an adaptation of the IUCN supported Environmental Impacts Classification of Alien Taxa (EICAT) protocol for assessment of impacts of invasive species. A text version of the protocol is available in Hawkins et al. 2015 (see readme file). The data sheets provide a standard format for reporting and summarizing invasive species impacts.

Citation: Bradley, Bethany A. 2018. Data sheets for assessment of invasive species impacts. Data and Datasets. 58.

Invasive species can have severe impacts on ecosystems, economies, and human health. Though the economic impacts of invasions provide important foundations for management and policy, up-to-date syntheses of these impacts are lacking. To produce the most comprehensive estimate of invasive species costs within North America (including the Greater Antilles) to date, we synthesized economic impact data from the recently published InvaCost database (see related research article: InvaCost, a public database of the economic costs of biological invasions worldwide (Sep 8, 2020).
See also: This article is part of NeoBiota 67: The economic costs of biological invasions around the world.

To date no studies have been undertaken on the costs and benefits of IAS management in the Caribbean. This may partly explain why there has been negligible funding to combat the onslaught of these exotic species in the region. As a result it was decided to provide individuals involved in the UNEP-GEF Project, "Mitigating the Threats of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean" with training and an opportunity to undertake Cost-Benefit Analyses (CBAs) on some selected IAS. The CBAs undertaken and reported in this publication clearly demonstrates that the benefits of managing IAS outweigh the costs.

See also: Economic Impact of Invasive Species to Washington State Fact Sheet [PDF, 205 KB]

See also: Impacts of Invasive Species on Municipal Assets

Holmes, Thomas P.; Aukema, Juliann E.; Von Holle, Betsy; Liebhold, Andrew; Sills, Erin. 2009. Economic impacts of invasive species in forest past, present, and future. In: The Year In Ecology and Conservation Biology, 2009. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1162:18-38.