Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards

Anna J. Turbelin; Ross N. Cuthbert; Franz Essl; Phillip J. Haubrock; Anthony Ricciardi; Franck Courchamp

doi:10.1016/j.pecon.2023.03.002

Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards

Anna J. Turbelin, Ross N. Cuthbert, Franz Essl, Phillip J. Haubrock, Anthony Ricciardi, Franck Courchamp^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Biological Sciences

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

60 Citations (Scopus)

101 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Natural hazards — such as storms, floods, and wildfires — can be disastrous phenomena and so can biological invasions, for which impacts are often irrevocable and insidious. Yet, biological invasion awareness remains low compared to natural hazards, and investments to manage invasions remain vastly underfunded and delayed. Here, we quantified biological invasion costs relative to natural hazards, to raise awareness and political leverage. Analysing biological invasions and natural hazards damage cost data over 1980–2019, economic losses from biological invasions were of similar magnitude to natural hazards (e.g., $1,208.0 bn against $1,913.6 bn for storms and $1,139.4 bn for earthquakes). Alarmingly, invasion costs increased faster than natural hazards over time. Similar biological invasions impact magnitudes to natural hazards and faster cost growth rates urge commensurate recognition, coordination and action towards invasions in policies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	143-150
Journal	Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation
Volume	21
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecon.2023.03.002
Publication status	Published - 23 May 2023

Access to Document

10.1016/j.pecon.2023.03.002Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards
© 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Associac¸ ao˜ Brasileira de Ciencia ˆ Ecologica ´ e Conservac¸ ao This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits distribution and reproduction for non-commercial purposes, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 2.38 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{fec71ed7cd9a49a395f59645d30f25bf,

title = "Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards",

abstract = "Natural hazards — such as storms, floods, and wildfires — can be disastrous phenomena and so can biological invasions, for which impacts are often irrevocable and insidious. Yet, biological invasion awareness remains low compared to natural hazards, and investments to manage invasions remain vastly underfunded and delayed. Here, we quantified biological invasion costs relative to natural hazards, to raise awareness and political leverage. Analysing biological invasions and natural hazards damage cost data over 1980–2019, economic losses from biological invasions were of similar magnitude to natural hazards (e.g., $1,208.0 bn against $1,913.6 bn for storms and $1,139.4 bn for earthquakes). Alarmingly, invasion costs increased faster than natural hazards over time. Similar biological invasions impact magnitudes to natural hazards and faster cost growth rates urge commensurate recognition, coordination and action towards invasions in policies.",

author = "Turbelin, {Anna J.} and Cuthbert, {Ross N.} and Franz Essl and Haubrock, {Phillip J.} and Anthony Ricciardi and Franck Courchamp",

year = "2023",

month = may,

day = "23",

doi = "10.1016/j.pecon.2023.03.002",

language = "English",

volume = "21",

pages = "143--150",

journal = "Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation",

issn = "2530-0644",

publisher = "Associacao Brasileira de Ciencia Ecologica e Conservacao",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards

AU - Turbelin, Anna J.

AU - Cuthbert, Ross N.

AU - Essl, Franz

AU - Haubrock, Phillip J.

AU - Ricciardi, Anthony

AU - Courchamp, Franck

PY - 2023/5/23

Y1 - 2023/5/23

N2 - Natural hazards — such as storms, floods, and wildfires — can be disastrous phenomena and so can biological invasions, for which impacts are often irrevocable and insidious. Yet, biological invasion awareness remains low compared to natural hazards, and investments to manage invasions remain vastly underfunded and delayed. Here, we quantified biological invasion costs relative to natural hazards, to raise awareness and political leverage. Analysing biological invasions and natural hazards damage cost data over 1980–2019, economic losses from biological invasions were of similar magnitude to natural hazards (e.g., $1,208.0 bn against $1,913.6 bn for storms and $1,139.4 bn for earthquakes). Alarmingly, invasion costs increased faster than natural hazards over time. Similar biological invasions impact magnitudes to natural hazards and faster cost growth rates urge commensurate recognition, coordination and action towards invasions in policies.

AB - Natural hazards — such as storms, floods, and wildfires — can be disastrous phenomena and so can biological invasions, for which impacts are often irrevocable and insidious. Yet, biological invasion awareness remains low compared to natural hazards, and investments to manage invasions remain vastly underfunded and delayed. Here, we quantified biological invasion costs relative to natural hazards, to raise awareness and political leverage. Analysing biological invasions and natural hazards damage cost data over 1980–2019, economic losses from biological invasions were of similar magnitude to natural hazards (e.g., $1,208.0 bn against $1,913.6 bn for storms and $1,139.4 bn for earthquakes). Alarmingly, invasion costs increased faster than natural hazards over time. Similar biological invasions impact magnitudes to natural hazards and faster cost growth rates urge commensurate recognition, coordination and action towards invasions in policies.

U2 - 10.1016/j.pecon.2023.03.002

DO - 10.1016/j.pecon.2023.03.002

M3 - Article

SN - 2530-0644

VL - 21

SP - 143

EP - 150

JO - Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation

JF - Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation

IS - 2

ER -

Biological invasions are as costly as natural hazards

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this