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

Gustavo Heringer; Romina D. Fernandez; Alok Bang; Marion Cordonnier; Ana Novoa; Bernd Lenzner; César Capinha; David Renault; David Roiz; Desika Moodley; Elena Tricarico; Kathrin Holenstein; Melina Kourantidou; Natalia I. Kirichenko; José Ricardo Pires Adelino; Romina D. Dimarco; Thomas W. Bodey; Yuya Watari; Franck Courchamp

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336

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

Gustavo Heringer^* (Corresponding Author), Romina D. Fernandez, Alok Bang, Marion Cordonnier, Ana Novoa, Bernd Lenzner, César Capinha, David Renault, David Roiz, Desika Moodley, Elena Tricarico, Kathrin Holenstein, Melina Kourantidou, Natalia I. Kirichenko, José Ricardo Pires Adelino, Romina D. Dimarco, Thomas W. Bodey, Yuya Watari, Franck Courchamp

^*Corresponding author for this work

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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.

Original language	English
Article number	170336
Number of pages	12
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	917
Early online date	5 Feb 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2024

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the French National Research Agency (ANR-14-CE02-0021) and the BNP-Paribas Foundation Climate Initiative for funding the Invacost project that allowed the construction of the InvaCost database. The present work was conducted following a workshop funded by the AXA Research Fund Chair of Invasion Biology and is part of the AlienScenario project funded by BiodivERsA and Belmont-Forum call 2018 on a biodiversity scenario. We also acknowledge Dr. Christophe Diagne for the important contributions during the development of this work, and all researchers and environmental managers who kindly answered our request for information about the costs of invasive species. GH thanks Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (Capes) – Finance code 001 for supporting his postdoctoral research. KH has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 766417. DRe thanks InEE-CNRS for the support received for the network GdR 3647 CNRS ‘Invasions Biologiques’. AN and DM were supported by EXPRO grant no. 19-28807X (Czech Science Foundation) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (Czech Academy of Sciences), NIK was partially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 22-16-00075; national literature review) and the Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS (the basic project, grant No. FWES-2024-0029; database contribution). ET acknowledges the support of the Project funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 - Call for tender No. 3138 of 16 December 2021, rectified by Decree n. 3175 of 18 December 2021 of the Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU; Award Number: Project code CNS 00000033, Concession Decree No. 1034 of 17 June 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP J83C22000870007 and B833C22002910001, Project title “National Biodiversity Future Center - NBFC”.

Keywords

Anthropogenic activity
Biological invasion
Economic impact
Urban ecosystem
Urbanization
InvaCost

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

Heringer, G., Fernandez, R. D., Bang, A., Cordonnier, M., Novoa, A., Lenzner, B., Capinha, C., Renault, D., Roiz, D., Moodley, D., Tricarico, E., Holenstein, K., Kourantidou, M., Kirichenko, N. I., Adelino, J. R. P., Dimarco, R. D., Bodey, T. W., Watari, Y., & Courchamp, F. (2024). Economic costs of invasive non-native species in urban areas: An underexplored financial drain. Science of the Total Environment, 917, Article 170336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336

Heringer, G, Fernandez, RD, Bang, A, Cordonnier, M, Novoa, A, Lenzner, B, Capinha, C, Renault, D, Roiz, D, Moodley, D, Tricarico, E, Holenstein, K, Kourantidou, M, Kirichenko, NI, Adelino, JRP, Dimarco, RD, Bodey, TW, Watari, Y & Courchamp, F 2024, 'Economic costs of invasive non-native species in urban areas: An underexplored financial drain', Science of the Total Environment, vol. 917, 170336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336

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

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.",

keywords = "Anthropogenic activity, Biological invasion, Economic impact, Urban ecosystem, Urbanization, InvaCost",

author = "Gustavo Heringer and Fernandez, {Romina D.} and Alok Bang and Marion Cordonnier and Ana Novoa and Bernd Lenzner and C{\'e}sar Capinha and David Renault and David Roiz and Desika Moodley and Elena Tricarico and Kathrin Holenstein and Melina Kourantidou and Kirichenko, {Natalia I.} and Adelino, {Jos{\'e} Ricardo Pires} and Dimarco, {Romina D.} and Bodey, {Thomas W.} and Yuya Watari and Franck Courchamp",

note = "Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the French National Research Agency (ANR-14-CE02-0021) and the BNP-Paribas Foundation Climate Initiative for funding the Invacost project that allowed the construction of the InvaCost database. The present work was conducted following a workshop funded by the AXA Research Fund Chair of Invasion Biology and is part of the AlienScenario project funded by BiodivERsA and Belmont-Forum call 2018 on a biodiversity scenario. We also acknowledge Dr. Christophe Diagne for the important contributions during the development of this work, and all researchers and environmental managers who kindly answered our request for information about the costs of invasive species. GH thanks Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Coordena{\c c}{\~a}o de Aperfei{\c c}oamento de Pessoal de N{\'i}vel Superior – Brasil (Capes) – Finance code 001 for supporting his postdoctoral research. KH has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie grant agreement No. 766417. DRe thanks InEE-CNRS for the support received for the network GdR 3647 CNRS {\textquoteleft}Invasions Biologiques{\textquoteright}. AN and DM were supported by EXPRO grant no. 19-28807X (Czech Science Foundation) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (Czech Academy of Sciences), NIK was partially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 22-16-00075; national literature review) and the Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS (the basic project, grant No. FWES-2024-0029; database contribution). ET acknowledges the support of the Project funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 - Call for tender No. 3138 of 16 December 2021, rectified by Decree n. 3175 of 18 December 2021 of the Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU; Award Number: Project code CNS 00000033, Concession Decree No. 1034 of 17 June 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP J83C22000870007 and B833C22002910001, Project title “National Biodiversity Future Center - NBFC”.",

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doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336",

language = "English",

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journal = "Science of the Total Environment",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Economic costs of invasive non-native species in urban areas

T2 - An underexplored financial drain

AU - Heringer, Gustavo

AU - Fernandez, Romina D.

AU - Bang, Alok

AU - Cordonnier, Marion

AU - Novoa, Ana

AU - Lenzner, Bernd

AU - Capinha, César

AU - Renault, David

AU - Roiz, David

AU - Moodley, Desika

AU - Tricarico, Elena

AU - Holenstein, Kathrin

AU - Kourantidou, Melina

AU - Kirichenko, Natalia I.

AU - Adelino, José Ricardo Pires

AU - Dimarco, Romina D.

AU - Bodey, Thomas W.

AU - Watari, Yuya

AU - Courchamp, Franck

N1 - Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the French National Research Agency (ANR-14-CE02-0021) and the BNP-Paribas Foundation Climate Initiative for funding the Invacost project that allowed the construction of the InvaCost database. The present work was conducted following a workshop funded by the AXA Research Fund Chair of Invasion Biology and is part of the AlienScenario project funded by BiodivERsA and Belmont-Forum call 2018 on a biodiversity scenario. We also acknowledge Dr. Christophe Diagne for the important contributions during the development of this work, and all researchers and environmental managers who kindly answered our request for information about the costs of invasive species. GH thanks Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (Capes) – Finance code 001 for supporting his postdoctoral research. KH has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 766417. DRe thanks InEE-CNRS for the support received for the network GdR 3647 CNRS ‘Invasions Biologiques’. AN and DM were supported by EXPRO grant no. 19-28807X (Czech Science Foundation) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (Czech Academy of Sciences), NIK was partially supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 22-16-00075; national literature review) and the Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS (the basic project, grant No. FWES-2024-0029; database contribution). ET acknowledges the support of the Project funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 - Call for tender No. 3138 of 16 December 2021, rectified by Decree n. 3175 of 18 December 2021 of the Italian Ministry of University and Research funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU; Award Number: Project code CNS 00000033, Concession Decree No. 1034 of 17 June 2022 adopted by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, CUP J83C22000870007 and B833C22002910001, Project title “National Biodiversity Future Center - NBFC”.

PY - 2024/3/1

Y1 - 2024/3/1

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Anthropogenic activity

KW - Biological invasion

KW - Economic impact

KW - Urban ecosystem

KW - Urbanization

KW - InvaCost

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170336

M3 - Article

SN - 0048-9697

VL - 917

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

M1 - 170336

ER -

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

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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