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Apr
20
2009
Researchers catalog the worst of the worst invaders
Ecologists may be facing sticker shock after having put a price tag on the costs of Europe’s invasive species.
In a study in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers used a continent-wide database of more than 10,000 alien species to shake out the ten most devastating invaders. The dubious distinctions go to: Canada geese, zebra mussels, brook trout, and Bermuda buttercups, among others.
Terrestrial vertebrates, top predators that can trigger cascading effects on the food web, had the widest range of effects on the value of ecosystems to humans. Invasive insects, spiders and other land invertebrates, however, wreaked the most financial turmoil, largely because of their more focused damage on valuable crops and timber forests. Annual crop losses in the U.K. alone due to alien bugs ring in at about $3.7 billion dollars, the authors calculate.
The species that so far have been the biggest budget drains include the water hyacinth at $4.5 million and a marina algae at $10.9 million.
Such an assessment would be difficult in North America., which does not have a comprehensive inventory of invasives or a catalog of their effects, the authors write. They call (politely, of course) for the other side of the pond to get its act together. — Jessica Leber
Source: Vilà, Monserrat et al. 2009. How well do we understand the impacts of alien species on ecosystem services? A pan-European, cross-taxa assessment. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment DOI: 10.1890/080083
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