Surprisingly high economic costs of biological invasions in protected areas

Desika Moodley (), Elena Angulo (), Ross N. Cuthbert, Brian Leung, Anna Turbelin (), Ana Novoa, Melina Kourantidou, Gustavo Heringer, Phillip J. Haubrock, D Renault (), Marine Robuchon (), Jean Fantle-Lepczyk, Franck Courchamp () and Christophe Diagne
Additional contact information
Desika Moodley: IB / CAS - Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences - CAS - Czech Academy of Sciences [Prague]
Elena Angulo: ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Ross N. Cuthbert: GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research [Kiel], QUB - Queen's University [Belfast]
Brian Leung: McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada]
Anna Turbelin: ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Ana Novoa: IB / CAS - Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences - CAS - Czech Academy of Sciences [Prague]
Gustavo Heringer: UFLA - Universidade Federal de Lavras = Federal University of Lavras
Phillip J. Haubrock: Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters [University of South Bohemia] - University of South Bohemia, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum [Frankfurt] - Senckenberg – Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research - Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung - Leibniz Association
D Renault: ECOBIO - Ecosystèmes, biodiversité, évolution [Rennes] - UR - Université de Rennes - INEE-CNRS - Institut Ecologie et Environnement - CNRS Ecologie et Environnement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - OSERen - Observatoire des sciences de l'environnement de Rennes - UR - Université de Rennes - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, IUF - Institut universitaire de France - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche
Marine Robuchon: JRC - European Commission - Joint Research Centre [Ispra]
Jean Fantle-Lepczyk: AU - Auburn University
Franck Courchamp: ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Christophe Diagne: ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Biological invasions are one of the main threats to biodiversity within protected areas (PAs) worldwide. Meanwhile, the resilience of PAs to invasions remains largely unknown. Consequently, providing a better understanding of how they are impacted by invasions is critical for informing policy responses and optimally allocating resources to prevention and control strategies. Here we use the InvaCost database to address this gap from three perspectives: (i) characterizing the total reported costs of invasive alien species (IAS) in PAs; (ii) comparing mean observed costs of IAS in PAs and non-PAs; and (iii) evaluating factors affecting mean observed costs of IAS in PAs. Our results first show that, overall, the reported economic costs of IAS in PAs amounted to US dollar 22.24 billion between 1975 and 2020, of which US$ 930.61 million were observed costs (already incurred) and US dollar 21.31 billion were potential costs (extrapolated or predicted). Expectedly, most of the observed costs were reported for management (73%) but damages were still much higher than expected for PAs (24%); in addition, the vast majority of management costs were reported for reactive, post-invasion actions (84% of management costs, focused on eradication and control). Second, differences between costs in PAs and non-PAs varied among continents and environments. We found significantly higher IAS costs in terrestrial PA environments compared to non-PAs, while regionally, Europe incurred higher costs in PAs and Africa and Temperate Asia incurred higher costs in non-PAs. Third, characterization of drivers of IAS costs within PAs showed an effect of environments (higher costs in terrestrial environments), continents (higher in Africa and South America), taxa (higher in invertebrates and vertebrates than plants) and Human Development Index (higher in more developed countries). Globally, our findings indicate that, counterintuitively, PAs are subject to very high costs from biological invasions. This highlights the need for more resources to be invested in the management of IAS to achieve the role of PAs in ensuring the long term conservation of nature. Accordingly, more spatially-balanced and integrative studies involving both scientists and stakeholders are required.

Keywords: Invasive alien species; InvaCost; Biodiversity conservation; Monetary impacts; Management actions; Protection status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03592532v1
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Biological Invasions, 2022, 24, pp.1995-2016. ⟨10.1007/s10530-022-02732-7⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03592532

DOI: 10.1007/s10530-022-02732-7

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