Disentangling the role of environmental and human pressures on biological invasions across Europe

Pyšek, Petr; Jarošík, Vojtech; Hulme, Philip E.; Kühn, Ingolf; Wild, Jan; Arianoutsou, Margarita; Bacher, Sven; Chiron, Francois; Didžiulis, Viktoras; Essl, Franz; Genovesi, Piero; Gherardi, Francesca; Hejda, Martin; Kark, Salit; Lambdon, Philip W.; Desprez-Loustau, Marie-Laure; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Pergl, Jan; Poboljšaj, Katja; Rabitsch, Wolfgang; Roques, Alain; Roy, David B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5147-0331; Shirley, Susan; Solarz, Wojciech; Vilà, Montserrat; Winter, Marten. 2010 Disentangling the role of environmental and human pressures on biological invasions across Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107 (27). 12157-12162. 10.1073/pnas.1002314107

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Official URL: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/27/12157

Abstract/Summary

The accelerating rates of international trade, travel, and transport in the latter half of the twentieth century have led to the progressive mixing of biota from across the world and the number of species introduced to new regions continues to increase. The importance of biogeographic, climatic, economic, and demographic factors as drivers of this trend is increasingly being realized but as yet there is no consensus regarding their relative importance. Whereas little may be done to mitigate the effects of geography and climate on invasions, a wider range of options may exist to moderate the impacts of economic and demographic drivers. Here we use the most recent data available from Europe to partition between macroecological, economic, and demographic variables the variation in alien species richness of bryophytes, fungi, vascular plants, terrestrial insects, aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Only national wealth and human population density were statistically significant predictors in the majority of models when analyzed jointly with climate, geography, and land cover. The economic and demographic variables reflect the intensity of human activities and integrate the effect of factors that directly determine the outcome of invasion such as propagule pressure, pathways of introduction, eutrophication, and the intensity of anthropogenic disturbance. The strong influence of economic and demographic variables on the levels of invasion by alien species demonstrates that future solutions to the problem of biological invasions at a national scale lie in mitigating the negative environmental consequences of human activities that generate wealth and by promoting more sustainable population growth.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1073/pnas.1002314107
Programmes:	CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biodiversity > BD Topic 2 - Ecological Processes in the Environment > BD - 2.2 - Quantify the impact of invasive species, pathogens ...
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Pywell
ISSN:	0027-8424
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	PNAS is an open access journal. Follow the OFFICIAL URL link to access the full text.
Additional Keywords:	climate, economy, exotic plants and animals, geography, prediction
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	07 Jul 2010 13:02 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/10101

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1073/pnas.1002314107

Programmes:

CEH Topics & Objectives 2009 - 2012 > Biodiversity > BD Topic 2 - Ecological Processes in the Environment > BD - 2.2 - Quantify the impact of invasive species, pathogens ...

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Pywell

ISSN:

0027-8424

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

PNAS is an open access journal. Follow the OFFICIAL URL link to access the full text.