Economic costs of invasive non-native species in urban areas: An underexplored financial drain

Type Article
Date 2024-03
Language English
Author(s) Heringer GustavoORCID1, 2, Fernandez Romina D.ORCID3, Bang AlokORCID4, 5, Cordonnier MarionORCID6, Novoa AnaORCID7, Lenzner BerndORCID8, Capinha CésarORCID9, 10, Renault DavidORCID11, 12, Roiz DavidORCID13, Moodley DesikaORCID7, Tricarico ElenaORCID14, Holenstein Kathrin15, Kourantidou MelinaORCID16, 17, Kirichenko Natalia I.ORCID18, 19, 20, Adelino José Ricardo PiresORCID21, Dimarco Romina D.ORCID22, 23, Bodey Thomas W.ORCID24, Watari YuyaORCID25, Courchamp FranckORCID26
Affiliation(s) 1 : Nürtingen-Geislingen University (HfWU), Schelmenwasen 4-8, 72622 Nürtingen, Germany
2 : Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Aplicada, Departamento de Ecologia e Conservação, Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), CEP 37200-900 Lavras, MG, Brazil
3 : Instituto de Ecología Regional, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán-CONICET, CC 34, 4107 Yerba Buena, Tucumán, Argentina
4 : Society for Ecology Evolution and Development, Wardha 442001, India
5 : Biology Group, School of Arts and Sciences, Azim Premji University, Bhopal 462022, India
6 : Lehrstuhl für Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie, Univ. Regensburg, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany
7 : Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, Department of Invasion Ecology, CZ-25243 Průhonice, Czech Republic
8 : Division of BioInvasions, Global Change & Macroecology, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria
9 : Centre of Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon, Rua Branca Edmée Marques, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal
10 : Associate Laboratory Terra, Portugal
11 : University of Rennes, CNRS, ECOBIO (Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution), UMR, 6553 Rennes, France
12 : Institut Universitaire de France, 1 rue Descartes, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
13 : MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Université Montpellier, Montpellier 34394, France
14 : Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy
15 : CEFE, Univ. Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Univ. Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France
16 : Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics, University of Southern Denmark, Degnevej 14, 6705 Esbjerg Ø, Denmark
17 : UMR 6308, AMURE, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, IUEM, rue Dumont d'Urville, 29280 Plouzané, France
18 : Sukachev Institute of Forest Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Federal Research Center «Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS», Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia
19 : Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk 660041, Russia
20 : All-Russian Plant Quarantine Center, Krasnoyarsk branch, Krasnoyarsk 660020, Russia
21 : Laboratório de Ecologia Evolutiva e Conservação, Departamento de Biologia Animal e Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, CP 6001, Londrina 86051-970, Brazil
22 : Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
23 : Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos, IFAB (INTA-CONICET), Bariloche, RN, Argentina
24 : School of Biological Sciences, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK
25 : Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Matsunosato 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan
26 : Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique Evolution, 91190 Gif-Sur-Yvette, France
Source Science Of The Total Environment (0048-9697) (Elsevier BV), 2024-03 , Vol. 917 , P. 170336 (12p.)
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336
Keyword(s) Anthropogenic activity, Biological invasion, Economic impact, Urban ecosystem, Urbanization, InvaCost
Abstract

Urbanization is an important driver of global change associated with a set of environmental modifications that affect the introduction and distribution of invasive non-native species (species with populations transported by humans beyond their natural biogeographic range that established and are spreading in their introduced range; hereafter, invasive species). These species are recognized as a cause of large ecological and economic losses. Nevertheless, the economic impacts of these species in urban areas are still poorly understood. Here we present a synthesis of the reported economic costs of invasive species in urban areas using the global InvaCost database, and demonstrate that costs are likely underestimated. Sixty-one invasive species have been reported to cause a cumulative cost of US$ 326.7 billion in urban areas between 1965 and 2021 globally (average annual cost of US$ 5.7 billion). Class Insecta was responsible for >99 % of reported costs (US$ 324.4 billion), followed by Aves (US$ 1.4 billion), and Magnoliopsida (US$ 494 million). The reported costs were highly uneven with the sum of the five costliest species representing 80 % of reported costs. Most reported costs were a result of damage (77.3 %), principally impacting public and social welfare (77.9 %) and authorities-stakeholders (20.7 %), and were almost entirely in terrestrial environments (99.9 %). We found costs reported for 24 countries. Yet, there are 73 additional countries with no reported costs, but with occurrences of invasive species that have reported costs in other countries. Although covering a relatively small area of the Earth's surface, urban areas represent about 15 % of the total reported costs attributed to invasive species. These results highlight the conservative nature of the estimates and impacts, revealing important biases present in the evaluation and publication of reported data on costs. We emphasize the urgent need for more focused assessments of invasive species' economic impacts in urban areas.

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Heringer Gustavo, Fernandez Romina D., Bang Alok, Cordonnier Marion, Novoa Ana, Lenzner Bernd, Capinha César, Renault David, Roiz David, Moodley Desika, Tricarico Elena, Holenstein Kathrin, Kourantidou Melina, Kirichenko Natalia I., Adelino José Ricardo Pires, Dimarco Romina D., Bodey Thomas W., Watari Yuya, Courchamp Franck (2024). Economic costs of invasive non-native species in urban areas: An underexplored financial drain. Science Of The Total Environment, 917, 170336 (12p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00876/98777/