Research Article |
Corresponding author: Melina Kourantidou ( mkour@dal.ca ) Academic editor: Emili García-Berthou
© 2021 Melina Kourantidou, Ross N. Cuthbert, Phillip J. Haubrock, Ana Novoa, Nigel G. Taylor, Boris Leroy, César Capinha, David Renault, Elena Angulo, Christophe Diagne, Franck Courchamp.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Kourantidou M, Cuthbert RN, Haubrock PJ, Novoa A, Taylor NG, Leroy B, Capinha C, Renault D, Angulo E, Diagne C, Courchamp F (2021) Economic costs of invasive alien species in the Mediterranean basin. In: Zenni RD, McDermott S, García-Berthou E, Essl F (Eds) The economic costs of biological invasions around the world. NeoBiota 67: 427-458. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.67.58926
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Invasive alien species (IAS) negatively impact the environment and undermine human well-being, often resulting in considerable economic costs. The Mediterranean basin is a culturally, socially and economically diverse region, harbouring many IAS that threaten economic and societal integrity in multiple ways. This paper is the first attempt to collectively quantify the reported economic costs of IAS in the Mediterranean basin, across a range of taxonomic, temporal and spatial descriptors. We identify correlates of costs from invasion damages and management expenditures among key socioeconomic variables, and determine network structures that link countries and invasive taxonomic groups. The total reported invasion costs in the Mediterranean basin amounted to $27.3 billion, or $3.6 billion when only realised costs were considered, and were found to have occurred over the last three decades. Our understanding of costs of invasions in the Mediterranean was largely limited to a few, primarily western European countries and to terrestrial ecosystems, despite the known presence of numerous high-impact aquatic invasive taxa. The vast majority of costs were attributed to damages or losses from invasions ($25.2 billion) and were mostly driven by France, Spain and to a lesser extent Italy and Libya, with significantly fewer costs attributed to management expenditure ($1.7 billion). Overall, invasion costs increased through time, with average annual costs between 1990 and 2017 estimated at $975.5 million. The lack of information from a large proportion of Mediterranean countries, reflected in the spatial and taxonomic connectivity analysis and the relationship of costs with socioeconomic variables, highlights the limits of the available data and the research effort needed to improve a collective understanding of the different facets of the costs of biological invasions. Our analysis of the reported costs associated with invasions in the Mediterranean sheds light on key knowledge gaps and provides a baseline for a Mediterranean-centric approach towards building policies and designing coordinated responses. In turn, these could help reach socially desirable outcomes and efficient use of resources invested in invasive species research and management.
Coûts économiques des espèces exotiques envahissantes dans le bassin méditerrannéen. Les espèces exotiques envahissantes (EEE) impactent négativement l’environnement et le bien-être humain, et résultent souvent en des coûts économiques considérables. Le bassin méditerranéen est une région culturellement, socialement et économiquement variée; elle abrite de nombreuses EEE qui menacent son intégrité économique et sociétale de multiples façons. Cet article constitue la première tentative de quantification collective des coûts économiques associés aux EEE dans le bassin méditerranéen au travers de divers descripteurs taxonomiques, temporels et spatiaux. Nous identifions les corrélations des coûts dûs aux dégâts des EEE et aux dépenses induites par leur gestion avec des variables socio-économiques clés, et nous déterminons les structures des réseaux qui lient les pays et les différents groupes taxonomiques envahissants. Le montant total du coût des invasions dans le bassin méditerranéen s’élève à $27,3 milliards, et $3,6 milliards si seuls les coûts réalisés sont pris en compte au cours des trois dernières décennies. Notre compréhension du coût des invasions biologiques en Méditerranée est largement réduite aux données concernant quelques pays, essentiellement d’Europe de l’Ouest, et aux écosystèmes terrestres, malgré la présence avérée de nombreux organismes aquatiques envahissants à fort impact. La grande majorité des coûts reportés correspondent à des dégâts ou des pertes ($25,2 milliards) et concerne essentiellement la France, l’Espagne et, dans une moindre mesure, l’Italie et la Libye, avec significativement moins de coûts correspondant à des dépenses de gestion ($1,7 milliard). De façon générale, les coûts liés aux invasions augmentent avec le temps, avec un coût annuel moyen entre 1990 et 2017 estimé à $975,5 millions. Le manque d’information pour une grande part des pays méditerranéen, qui se reflète dans l’analyse de connectivité spatiale et taxonomique et les relations entre les coûts et les variables socio-économiques, met en évidence les limites des données disponibles, ainsi que l’effort de recherche qui est nécessaire pour une compréhension plus globale des différentes facettes des coûts des invasions biologiques. Notre analyse des coûts reportés pour la région méditerranéenne met en lumière les principales lacunes de connaissance et pose les bases d’une approche Méditerranée-centrée visant la mise en place de politiques et le design de réponses coordonnées. En retour, celles-ci pourront aider à atteindre une utilisation efficace et socialement acceptable des ressources investies dans la recherche sur les espèces envahissantes et dans leur gestion.
Costos económicos de las especies exóticas invasoras en la cuenca mediterránea. Las especies exóticas invasoras (EEI) tienen un impacto negativo en el medio ambiente y perjudican el bienestar humano, lo que a menudo genera costos económicos considerables. La cuenca del Mediterráneo es una región cultural, social y económicamente diversa, que alberga un gran número de especies exóticas invasoras que amenazan la integridad económica y social de múltiples maneras. Este artículo es el primer intento de cuantificar colectivamente los costos económicos reportados de las EEI en la cuenca del Mediterráneo, a través de una variedad de descriptores taxonómicos, temporales y espaciales. Identificamos las correlaciones de los costos causados por los daños de las EEI y los gastos relacionados con su gestión con una serie de variables socioeconómicas clave y determinamos las estructuras de red que vinculan a los países de la cuenca Mediterránea y los grupos taxonómicos invasores. Los costos totales de invasión reportados en la cuenca del Mediterráneo ascendieron a $27.3 mil millones, o $3.6 mil millones cuando solamente se consideraron los costos realizados, los cuales ocurrieron durante las últimas tres décadas. Nuestro conocimiento de los costos de las invasiones en el Mediterráneo se limitó en gran medida a unos pocos países, principalmente de Europa occidental, y a ecosistemas terrestres, a pesar de la presencia conocida de numerosos taxones invasores acuáticos de alto impacto. La gran mayoría de los costos se atribuyeron a daños o pérdidas por invasiones ($25.2 mil millones) y fueron impulsados principalmente por Francia, España y, en menor medida, Italia y Libia, con costos significativamente menores atribuidos a los gastos de gestión ($1.7 mil millones). En general, los costos aumentaron con el tiempo, con costos anuales promedio entre 1990 y 2017 estimados en $975.5 millones. La falta de información de costos en una gran proporción de países mediterráneos, reflejada en el análisis de conectividad espacial y taxonómica y la relación de los costes con las variables socioeconómicas, pone de manifiesto los límites de los datos disponibles y el esfuerzo investigador necesario para mejorar la comprensión colectiva de las diferentes facetas de los costos de las invasiones biológicas. Nuestro análisis de los costes reportados asociados con las invasiones en el Mediterráneo pone de relieve las actuales lagunas de conocimiento y proporciona una línea de base para un enfoque centrado en el Mediterráneo hacia la creación de políticas y el diseño de respuestas coordinadas. A su vez, este estudio podría ayudar a alcanzar resultados socialmente deseables y un uso eficiente de los recursos invertidos en la investigación y el manejo de EEI en la cuenca del Mediterráneo.
Costi economici delle specie aliene invasive nel bacino del Mediterraneo. Le specie aliene invasive (SAI) impattano negativamente l’ambiente e minacciano il benessere umano, spesso con conseguenti costi economici. Il bacino Mediterraneo è una regione culturalmente, socialmente ed economicamente diversa, ospitando molte SAI che minacciano l’integrità economica e sociale in molti modi. Questo articolo è il primo tentativo di quantificare collettivamente i costi economici riportati per le SAI nel bacino Mediterraneo, con un uno spettro di descrittori tassonomici, temporali e spaziali. Identifichiamo i correlati dei costi dai danni delle invasioni e le spese di gestione tra le variabili socioeconomiche chiave, e determiniamo strutture a rete che collegano Paesi e gruppi tassonomici invasivi. I costi totali delle invasioni riportati nel bacino Mediterraneo ammontano a $27,3 miliardi, o $3,6 miliardi se si considerano solo i costi realizzati, e si sono verificati nel corso degli ultimi tre decenni. La nostra comprensione dei costi delle invasioni nel Mediterraneo era ampiamente limitata a pochi Paesi Europei, soprattutto quelli occidentali, e agli ecosistemi terrestri, nonostante la nota presenza di numerosi taxa acquatici invasivi di alto impatto. La grande maggioranza dei costi delle invasioni sono stati attribuiti a danni o perdite ($25,2 miliardi) e sono stati principalmente determinati dalla Francia, dalla Spagna e, in misura minore, dall’Italia e dalla Libia, con costi significativamente minori attribuiti alle spese di gestione ($1,7 miliardi). In generale, i costi delle invasioni sono aumentati nel tempo, con un costo annuale medio tra il 1990 e il 2017 stimato a $975,5 miliardi. La mancanza di informazioni da una larga proporzione di Paesi del Mediterraneo, riflessa nell’analisi di connettività spaziale e tassonomica e nella relazione tra i costi e le variabili socioeconomiche, sottolinea i limiti dei dati disponibili e delle ricerche necessarie per migliorare la conoscenza collettiva dei diversi aspetti dei costi delle invasioni biologiche. La nostra analisi dei costi riportati associate alle invasioni nel Mediterraneo fa luce sulle lacune chiave nella conoscenza e fornisce una base per un approccio Mediterraneo-centrico verso la formulazione di politiche e di risposte coordinate. A sua volta, queste potrebbero aiutare a raggiungere risultati socialmente desiderabili e un uso efficiente delle risorse investite nella ricerca e nella gestione delle specie invasive.
Οικονομικά κόστη εισβολικών ειδών στην λεκάνη της Μεσογείου. Τα εισβολικά είδη επηρεάζουν αρνητικά το περιβάλλον και υποβαθμίζουν την ανθρώπινη ευημερία, κάτι που συχνά καταλήγει σε σημαντικά οικονομικά κόστη. Η λεκάνη της Μεσογείου είναι μια πολιτιστικά, κοινωνικά και οικονομικά ποικιλόμορφη περιοχή που φιλοξενεί πολλά εισβολικά είδη τα οποία απειλούν την οικονομική και κοινωνική συνοχή με διάφορους τρόπους. Η εργασία αυτή είναι μια πρώτη προσπάθεια να ποσοτικοποιήσει συνολικά τα οικονομικά κόστη εισβολικών ειδών που έχουν αναφερθεί για την λεκάνη της Μεσογείου με τη χρήση ενός εύρους ταξινομικών, χρονικών και χωρικών περιγραφέων. Προσδιορίζουμε συσχετίσεις του κόστους από τις ζημιές και διαχείριση των εισβολικών ειδών με βασικές κοινωνικό-οικονομικές μεταβλητές, καθώς επίσης και τις δομές του δικτύου που συνδέουν τις χώρες με τις εισβολικές ταξινομικές ομάδες. Το συνολικά κόστη από εισβολές στην λεκάνη της Μεσογείου εκτιμήθηκαν σε $27,3 δις, ή $3,6 δις λαμβάνοντας υπόψη μόνο τα πραγματικά/υλοποιηθέντα κόστη, και έλαβαν χώρα στη διάρκεια των τριών τελευταίων δεκαετιών. Η γνώση μας για τα κόστη των εισβολικών ειδών στην Μεσόγειο περιορίστηκε σε μεγάλο βαθμό σε λίγες, κυρίως δυτικό-Ευρωπαϊκές χώρες και σε χερσαία οικοσυστήματα, παρά το ότι γνωρίζουμε για την παρουσία πολλών εισβολικών ειδών σε υδάτινα οικοσυστήματα με σημαντικές επιπτώσεις. Η συντριπτική πλειοψηφία του κόστους αποδόθηκε σε ζημιές ή απώλειες από εισβολές ($25,2 δις) και κυρίως από την Γαλλία, Ισπανία και σε μικρότερο βαθμό από την Ιταλία και την Λιβύη, ενώ σημαντικά λιγότερα κόστη αποδόθηκαν στη διαχείριση ($1,7 δις). Συνολικά, τα κόστη των εισβολικών ειδών αυξήθηκαν στην διάρκεια του χρόνου με το μέσο ετήσιο κόστος μεταξύ του 1990 και 2017 να εκτιμάται στα $975,5 εκατομμύρια. Η έλλειψη πληροφορίας από μεγάλη μερίδα Μεσογειακών χωρών, που αντικατοπτρίζεται στην χωρική και ταξινομική ανάλυση συσχέτισης και στην σχέση μεταξύ του κόστους και κοινωνικό-οικονομικών μεταβλητών, αναδεικνύει τους περιορισμούς που θέτουν τα διαθέσιμα δεδομένα και την ανάγκη για έρευνα, για μια καλύτερη συλλογική κατανόηση των διαφορετικών πτυχών του κόστους των βιολογικών εισβολών. Η ανάλυσή μας για τα καταγεγραμμένα κόστη εισβολικών ειδών στη Μεσόγειο φέρνει στο φως σημαντικά κενά γνώσης και προσφέρει την βάση για μια προσέγγιση με επίκεντρο την Μεσόγειο, για τον σχεδιασμό συντονισμένων δράσεων και την δημιουργία πολιτικών. Με τη σειρά τους αυτές μπορούν να βοηθήσουν στην επίτευξη επιθυμητών αποτελεσμάτων και αποδοτικής χρήσης των πόρων που επενδύονται στην έρευνα και διαχείριση εισβολικών ειδών.
Kosten invasive Arten Kosten invasiver gebietsfremder Arten im Mittelmeerraum. Invasive gebietsfremde Arten wirken sich negativ auf die Umwelt aus und beeinträchtigen das Wohlbefinden des Menschen, was häufig zu erheblichen wirtschaftlichen Kosten führt. Das Mittelmeerbecken ist eine kulturell, sozial und wirtschaftlich vielfältige Region mit vielen gebietsfremden Arten, die die wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Integrität auf vielfältige Weise gefährden. Dieses Arbeit ist der erste Versuch, die gemeldeten wirtschaftlichen Kosten dieser Arten im Mittelmeerraum über eine Reihe taxonomischer, zeitlicher und räumlicher Deskriptoren hinweg kollektiv zu quantifizieren. Wir identifizieren Korrelationen von Kosten biologischer Invasionen und Verwaltungsausgaben unter den wichtigsten sozioökonomischen Variablen und bestimmen Netzwerkstrukturen, die Länder und invasive taxonomische Gruppen verbinden. Die gesamten gemeldeten Kosten im Mittelmeerraum beliefen sich auf $27,3 Mrd. oder $3,6 Mrd., wenn nur realisierte Kosten berücksichtigt wurden, und wurden in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten festgestellt. Unser Verständnis der Kosten biologischer Invasionen im Mittelmeerraum war trotz des bekannten Vorhandenseins zahlreicher hoch-invasiver aquatischer invasiver Taxa weitgehend auf einige wenige, hauptsächlich westeuropäische Länder und terrestrische Ökosysteme beschränkt. Die überwiegende Mehrheit der Kosten entfiel auf Schäden oder Verluste an Ressourcen durch Invasionen ($25,2 Mrd.) und wurde hauptsächlich von Frankreich, Spanien und in geringerem Maße von Italien und Libyen getragen, wobei die Verwaltungsausgaben ($1,7 Mrd.) erheblich geringer waren. Insgesamt stiegen diese Kosten im Laufe der Zeit, wobei die durchschnittlichen jährlichen Kosten zwischen 1990 und 2017 auf $975,5 Mio. geschätzt wurden. Der Mangel an Informationen aus einem großen Teil der Mittelmeerländer, der sich in der räumlichen und taxonomischen Konnektivitätsanalyse und dem Verhältnis der Kosten zu sozioökonomischen Variablen widerspiegelt, zeigt die Grenzen der verfügbaren Daten und den Forschungsaufwand auf, der erforderlich ist, um ein kollektives Verständnis der verschiedenen Facetten der Kosten für biologische Invasionen zu verbessern. Unsere Analyse der gemeldeten Kosten im Zusammenhang mit Invasionen im Mittelmeerraum beleuchtet wichtige Wissenslücken und bietet eine Grundlage für einen auf den Mittelmeerraum ausgerichteten Ansatz zur Erstellung von Strategien und zur Gestaltung koordinierter Reaktionen. Dies könnte wiederum dazu beitragen, sozial wünschenswerte Ergebnisse zu erzielen und die Ressourcen die in die Forschung an invasiven Arten und deren Bewirtschaftung investiert werden, effizient zu nutzen.
Ekonomski troškovi invazivnih stranih vrsta u mediteranskom bazenu. Invazivne strane vrste negativno utječu na okoliš i sabotiraju dobrobit ljudi, što često rezultira značajnim ekonomskim troškovima. Mediteranski bazen je kulturno, socijalno i ekonomski raznolika regija u kojoj se nalaze mnoge invazivne strane vrste koje na više načina ugrožavaju njezin ekonomski i društveni integritet. Ovaj rad je prvi pokušaj kolektivnog kvantificiranja prijavljenih ekonomskih troškova invazivnih stranih vrsta u mediteranskom bazenu, kroz niz taksonomskih, vremenskih i prostornih deskriptori. Utvrdili smo korelati troškova od štete prouzorčene invazivnim stranim vrstama i izdataka za upravljanje među ključnih socioekonomskih varijabli, i utvrdili mrežne strukture koje povezuju države i invazivne taksonomske skupine. Ukupni prijavljeni troškovi invazije u mediteranskom bazenu iznosili su 27,3 milijarde dolara, odnosno 3,6 milijardi dolara kada su se uzimali u obzir samo ostvareni troškovi, a koji su zabilježeni u posljednja tri desetljeća. Naše razumijevanje troškova invazije na Sredozemlju uglavnom je bilo ograničeno na nekoliko, prvenstveno zapadnoeuropskih zemalja i kopnene ekosustave, unatoč poznatoj prisutnosti brojnih vodenih invazivnih svojti s prepoznatim velikim utjecajem. Velika većina troškova pripisana je šteti ili gubicima od strane invazija (25,2 milijarde dolara), uglavnom predvođenim od strane Francuske i Španjolske te u manjoj mjeri Italije i Libije, uz znatno manje troškova pripisanih izdacima za upravljanje (1,7 milijardi dolara). Sveukupni troškovi invazije s vremenom su se povećavali, a prosječni godišnji troškovi između 1990. i 2017. procjenjuju se na 975,5 milijuna dolara. Nedostatak informacija iz velikog dijela mediteranskih zemalja, koji se ogleda u analizi prostorne i taksonomske povezanosti te odnosu troškova sa socioekonomskim varijablama, ukazuje na ograničenost dostupnih podataka i istraživačkog napora potrebnim za poboljšanje kolektivnog razumijevanja različitih aspekata troškova bioloških invazija. Naša analiza prijavljenih troškova povezanih s invazijama na Mediteranu ukazuje na ključne nedostatke u znanju i daje osnovu za mediteranski usmjeren pristup izgradnji politika i osmišljavanju koordiniranih odgovora. Takav pristup bi zauzvrat mogao pomoći u postizanju društveno poželjnih rezultata i učinkovitom korištenju resursa uloženih u istraživanje i upravljanje invazivnim stranim vrstama.
.التكاليف الاقتصادية للأنواع الغريبة الغازية في حوض البحر الأبيض المتوسط
تؤثر "الأنواع الغريبة الغازية" سلبًا على البيئة ورفاهية الإنسان، وغالبًا ما تؤدي إلى تكاليف اقتصادية مهمة. من جهتها، تعتبر منطقة حوض البحر الأبيض المتوسط مجالا متنوعا ثقافياً واجتماعياً واقتصادياً، مما جعل منها موطنا للعديد من "الأنواع الغريبة الغازية" التي تهدد سلامتها الاقتصادية والاجتماعية بطرق شتى. تشكل الدراسة التي بين أيدينا محاولة أولية لتقدير جماعي للتكاليف الاقتصادية المرتبطة بـ "الأنواع الغريبة الغازية" في حوض البحر الأبيض المتوسط، وذلك من خلال واصفات تصنيفية وزمنية ومكانية مختلفة. كما نحدد ارتباطات التكاليف الاقتصادية التي سببها أضرار "الأنواع الغريبة الغازية" وتكاليف تسييرها مع المتغيرات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية الرئيسية، ونحدد كذلك بينة الشبكات التي تربط البلدان والمجموعات التصنيفية الغازية المختلفة. وحسب هذه الدراسة، بلغ إجمالي تكاليف "الأنواع الغريبة الغازية" في حوض البحر الأبيض المتوسط 27.3 مليار دولار، و3.6 مليار .دولار إذا تم أخذ التكاليف المحققة فقط بعين الاعتبار على مدى العقود الثلاثة الماضية
إن فهمنا لتكلفة الغزو البيولوجي في حوض البحر الأبيض المتوسط اقتصر إلى حد كبير على البيانات المتعلقة بعدد قليل من البلدان، خاصة من أوروبا الغربية، وبعض النظم الإيكولوجية القارية، على الرغم من الوجود المؤكد للعديد من الكائنات المائية الغازية ذات التأثير الكبير. إن الغالبية العظمى من التكاليف المبلغ عنها تتعلق بالأضرار أو الخسائر (25.2 مليار دولار) وتهم بشكل رئيسي فرنسا وإسبانيا وبدرجة أقل إيطاليا وليبيا، مع تكاليف أقل بكثير تخص نفقات التسيير الاداري (1.7 مليار دولار). بشكل عام، تزداد التكاليف المرتبطة بالغزو البيولوجي بمرور الوقت وذلك بمتوسط تكلفة سنوية تقدر بـ 975.5 مليون دولار بين عامي 1990 و2017. إن نقص المعلومات في جزء كبير من دول البحر الأبيض المتوسط، الشيء الذي ينعكس من خلال تحليل الربط المكاني والتصنيفي والعلاقات بين التكاليف والمتغيرات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية، يسلط الضوء على حدود البيانات المتاحة، وكذلك .جهود البحث الضرورية من أجل فهم أكثر شمولاً للجوانب المختلفة لتكاليف الغزو البيولوجي
لقد سلط تحليلنا للتكاليف المرتبطة بمنطقة البحر الأبيض المتوسط الضوء على الفجوات المعرفية الرئيسية ووضع الأسس لمقاربة "متوسطية" تهدف إلى وضع سياسات ملائمة وتصاميم تدخلات متناسقة، مما يمكن أن يؤمن استخدام فعال ومقبول اجتماعيًا للموارد المستثمرة في الأبحاث حول .الأنواع الغازية وكيفية إدارتها
geographic connectivity, InvaCost, monetary impacts, non-indigenous species, resource losses, socioeconomic dimensions
The ongoing spread of invasive alien species (IAS) is a key driver of biodiversity and ecosystem degradation that continues to adversely affect human and social well-being at local, national and global scales (
Large-scale efforts to quantify invasion costs have primarily focused on a single country (e.g. the U.S.;
The Mediterranean basin is a major biogeographic unit, whether defined by its shared climate or marine resources, its distinct biome (
Aside from the marine realm, terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems also share similar invasion patterns across countries of the Mediterranean basin, such as similar species traits of successful invaders or habitat vulnerability (e.g.,
The millenary history of trade and travel, and multiple other anthropogenic disturbances in the region, has led to a biogeographically diverse set of invaders (
Recognising this gap and the often-expected connectivity of invasions across ecosystems in the region, a useful approach for prioritising the allocation of resources aimed at IAS management is to identify which species pose the greatest economic risks and build collaborative strategies for their management. Additionally, lessons gained from the successes and failures of managing a species in one country can guide managers in others. Indeed, regional approaches are recognised to be essential in sustainable and efficient prevention against IAS (
The present study thus builds on the InvaCost initiative (
For the purposes of quantifying the costs associated with IAS in the Mediterranean basin, we combined information from databases linked to the InvaCost project, the first global effort to systematically compile and synthesise the monetary costs of invasive species (
InvaCost is a living database, meant to be updated on an ongoing basis by authors and future users (
These data were further complemented with 5,212 cost entries extracted from literature in 15 languages other than English (
We filtered the cost entries compiled (n = 10,005) to select only costs of IAS in the 26 countries having a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea (or countries within these countries, i.e. Andorra, San Marino, Vatican City), or costs in the Mediterranean Sea. Costs of IAS explicitly occurring in overseas territories of these countries (e.g. French Guiana) were excluded from our analyses.
Prior to analyses, all cost entries in our database were expanded so that each entry was annualised (i.e. corresponding to a single year), given that original cost estimates may have corresponded to either a cost realised over a single year, a period of less than a year, or a cost reoccurring over a series of years. For the purpose of expanding these original cost entries, we used the expandYearlyCosts function of the ‘invacost’ R package (
All cost estimates were standardised to 2017 equivalent US dollars (US$) using the market exchange rate (World Bank), and accounting for inflation (Consumer Price Index of the year the cost was estimated for in each study) (
The extracted cost data were classified according to temporal, spatial, and taxonomic descriptors (see
To assess temporal trends of invasion costs in the Mediterranean over time, we considered 5-year means since 1990 (the first year with invasion costs in our database). We examined costs as a function of the “Impact year”, which reflects the time at which the invasion cost likely occurred based on probable starting and ending years (
In addition to the data included in our cost database, we collected complementary elements from the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (
Spatial and taxonomic aspects of Mediterranean invasion costs were concurrently examined using a bipartite network of two types of nodes: (1) countries and (2) taxonomic groups (excluding studies reporting costs on diverse taxonomic groups, or in other words costs for species belonging to different taxonomic groups that were reported together). For taxa, broad groupings were created from combinations of habitat and animal taxonomic group (e.g. “terrestrial mammal”, “aquatic arthropod”) or plant guild e.g. (“terrestrial forb” or “aquatic floating”) to facilitate broad-scale taxonomic linking among countries. The taxonomic groupings used can be found in Suppl. material
Between 1990 and 2017, the total cost of IAS in the Mediterranean basin was estimated at $27.31 billion (in 2017 US$ values). The majority of the costs for the Mediterranean in our database were published after the mid-2000s (orange line, Fig.
Temporal trends in numbers of documents reporting costs (left y-axis) and cost entries (right y-axis) concerning invasive alien species within the Mediterranean basin published during 1990–2020. Note the different scales for the two vertical axes. All data shown here reflect costs occurring in 2017 or earlier, as used in our analysis (note that some of these costs were published after 2017).
The vast majority (87%) of total costs for the region were derived from expectations or predictions (Potential, $23.73 billion), rather than empirical observations (Observed, $3.59 billion). However, these potential costs correspond to a relatively small number of database entries (n = 279) with the majority of entries corresponding to empirical observations (n = 4,507, Fig.
Balloon plot indicating invasion costs (total) and cost entry numbers for Mediterranean countries available, according to implementation type (Observed/Potential) and method reliability (High/Low). The numbers inside or adjacent to each balloon correspond to the sample size (also indicated by shading).
Between 1990 and 2017, the majority of Mediterranean invasion costs were recorded in the western part of Europe: Spain ($12.47 billion, n = 3,367), France ($10.85 billion, n = 1,237) and Italy ($680.76 million, n = 107). Costs were also high in Libya ($593.04 billion; n = 8). The sum of costs in the remaining 11 countries for which data were available (i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Malta, Montenegro, Slovenia and Turkey) were found to be relatively low, corroborating low numbers of cost entries (Fig.
Reported costs of IAS in countries of the Mediterranean basin over the period 1990–2017. Subplots display (a) total costs (observed and potential costs), and (b) observed costs only. n = number of cost entries in expanded InvaCost database, B: Billions, M: Millions, K: Thousands. Circles highlight small-sized countries (Andorra, Gibraltar, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, all with no recorded cost). National borders are based on data from https://gadm.org/data.html and are for illustration purposes only. Cyprus is represented as a single geographical unit; all costs were from the Greek part. Map Projection: World Mercator.
When “Observed” costs were considered, France ($780.71 billion, n = 1,036), Italy ($502.9 million, n = 94), and Libya ($339.77 million, n = 4) were the top three countries, with Turkey ($325.84 million, n = 11) ranking fourth and Spain ($234.48 million, n = 3,320) fifth. Our dataset contained no costs for the following 11 countries: Algeria, Andorra, Gibraltar, Lebanon, Monaco, Morocco, Palestine, San Marino, Syria, Tunisia and Vatican City.
Overall, close to two thirds of the costs ($17.76 billion) were attributed to animals, and one third ($9.54 billion) to plants, although the number of entries was much smaller for animals (n = 1,140 entries) than for plants (n = 3,516 entries). When considering “Observed” costs only, invasions from animals ($1.81 billion, n = 998 entries) were found to be slightly more costly than those from plants ($1.76 billion, n = 3,399 entries).
The vast majority of costs were caused by invertebrates, driven predominantly by the secernentean nematodes ($14.08 billion, 52% of total costs, n = 110 entries) and insects ($3.55 billion, 13% of total costs, n = 143 entries). Vertebrates accounted for <1% of total costs ($74.01 million, n = 563 entries), with mammals accounting for 88% of vertebrate costs ($65.07 million, n = 272 entries). Plant costs were driven primarily by the flowering plants Magnoliopsida ($9.35 billion, 34% of total costs). When observed costs were considered solely, Magnoliopsida was the costliest class of species, with total reported costs of $1.59 billion (n = 2,049 entries), followed by insects, with $1.74 billion (n = 128 entries) (see also Suppl. material
The database for the Mediterranean contains costs for 218 species and 187 genera (considering only costs attributable to individual species or genera). The pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the only species within the class of Secernentea, was by far the costliest invasive species across the Mediterranean basin, with total costs peaking at $14.08 billion (Suppl. material
When accounting for “Observed” costs only, the common ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia was the costliest IAS ($1.39 billion), followed by the olive fruit fly Bactrocera oleae with $0.84 billion, the New World screwworm Cochliomyia hominivorax with close to $0.34 billion and the tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta with $0.22 billion.
In examining spatial and taxonomic group connectivity across the Mediterranean basin, six clusters identified marked patterns of invasion costs (Fig.
Network of observed invasive alien species costs per country in the Mediterranean. This bipartite network is composed of both species groups and country nodes. Links indicate the cumulative costs of species in countries over 1990–2017. Node size and link thickness corresponds to the cumulative costs. For species nodes, node size represents the total cost they had over all countries. For country nodes, the node size represents the total cost of all species in that country, so large country nodes imply that those countries had large invasion costs.
Two major clusters emerged in the Mediterranean basin. First, France, Italy, Greece, as well as Turkey and several Balkan countries constituted the largest cluster. All countries in this cluster were affected by terrestrial forbs; this cluster was also characterized by multiple groups of invaders affecting one to a few countries (notably, semi-aquatic arthropods). The second major cluster was composed of Spain and the highly diverse array of invasive groups impacting this country. The remaining clusters were composed of one to two countries economically impacted by a specific group of organisms: Libya and Egypt by terrestrial arthropods, Malta by terrestrial mammals, Cyprus by fishes and Israel by cnidarians. Nonetheless, despite these marked areas of interrelatedness, there were many inter-cluster linkages which indicate that most clusters are impacted economically by several taxonomic groups. Note, for example, the numerous groups reported to impact both France and Spain. Overall, a relative lack of reported invasion costs for other Mediterranean countries negated their prominence in the network, indicating a disparity in cost reporting in the region.
Considering both “Total” and “Observed” costs, terrestrial species accounted for the vast majority of both total ($19.09 billion, 70%) and observed costs ($3.2 billion, 89%) (Fig.
Invasion costs (outer circle) and cost entries (inner circle) in the Mediterranean basin by Environment (left), Type of cost (middle) and Impacted sector (right), considering all costs (upper) and observed costs alone (bottom).
The vast majority of costs associated with biological invasions in the Mediterranean basin were due to damages or losses (92.1% of total costs, $25.15 billion), followed by much lower management costs (6.3% of total costs, $1.71 billion) (Fig.
The forestry industry was the most severely affected overall, with approximately $14.1 billion (n = 114 entries) in total costs (Fig.
When “Observed” costs only were considered, “Agriculture” ($1.99 billion, n = 51 entries) came out as the most impacted sector, followed by “Authorities-Stakeholders” ($931.47 million, n = 4,018 entries), “Health” costs ($467.43 million, n = 134 entries), and costs to “Mixed” sectors ($151.65 million, n = 148 entries) then “Environment” ($25.49 million, n = 132 entries) and “Forestry” ($20.09 million, n = 4) (Fig.
A more detailed breakdown of costs per sector in each country is available in Suppl. material
For observed cost entries, significant positive correlations were identified between both damages and management costs and research effort (reflected through expenditure in R&D). There were also positive strong correlations between a) observed damage-loss costs and the size of forest areas, GDP, international trade (reflected through container port traffic), and research effort (reflected also through number of journal publications, beyond just expenditure in R&D) and b) observed management costs and international trade (reflected through imports of goods and services) (Table
Total (observed and potential) annual costs resulting from invasions in the Mediterranean region from 1990–2017 at five-year increments (except for the last three years of the dataset which cover the period 2015–2017). Data are presented for all costs combined, plus "Damage" and "Management" costs separately. Solid points and horizontal lines represent annual means over their respective 5-year intervals. Note that the y-axis is shown on a log10 scale. The slight decrease observed for the last three years is likely indicative of the incomplete sampling of cost for these last years, because of the delay between cost occurrence and reporting/publication.
The average annual cost throughout the entire period of 1990–2017 was estimated at $975.5 million, exhibiting an initial decrease throughout the 1990s, followed by a sharp increase in the early 2000s, and a further substantial increase afterwards (Fig.
Relationships of observed “Damage” and “Management” costs of IAS in Mediterranean countries with country-specific indicators derived from the
Damage costs | Management costs | |
---|---|---|
Total area (km2) | 0.10 (0.670) | 0.08 (0.740) |
Agricultural area (km2) | 0.11 (0.650) | 0.03 (0.900) |
Forest area (km2) | 0.63 (0.003) | 0.24 (0.310) |
Urban area (km2) | 0.34 (0.160) | 0.31 (0.200) |
Human population (thousands of people) | 0.22 (0.360) | 0.04 (0.880) |
GDP (US$) | 0.46 (0.039) | 0.39 (0.086) |
Container port traffic (TEU: 20-foot equivalent units) | 0.47 (0.050) | 0.33 (0.180) |
Research and development expenditure (US$) | 0.49 (0.041) | 0.61 (0.007) |
Scientific and technical journal articles | 0.47 (0.035) | 0.28 (0.230) |
Number of researchers | 0.41 (0.088) | 0.45 (0.060) |
Imports of goods and services (US$) | 0.44 (0.054) | 0.49 (0.027) |
Between 1990 and 2017, the total recorded economic costs of biological invasions in Mediterranean countries amounted to $27.31 billion. However, most costs are the result of predictions or expectations (87% of total costs, $23.73 billion) rather than realised costs, meaning that costs were projected in time and/or space by the original authors, so these costs have not necessarily been borne in practice. It is important to acknowledge this as a limitation in our understanding of actual economic impacts of invasions in the region. Observed costs of biological invasions were still substantial, at $3.59 billion over the same time period. Note again though that our database includes reported costs only, implying that costs are likely a substantial underestimate. Additionally, and as suggested by our results, costs may reflect reporting effort as much as real costs. Biases and gaps in our database likely reflect an absence of published material or a failure of the InvaCost literature searches to find this or unpublished material, rather than a genuine absence of costs. Nevertheless, our analysis of temporal trends identified marked increases in invasion costs over time (during the last three decades), particularly for resource damages, in line with evidence of increasing rates of invasion worldwide (
Our understanding of the economic impacts of biological invasions in the Mediterranean basin is largely limited to studies from a subset of countries: cost data were found for only 15 out of 26 countries, with the Western European countries (France, Spain and Italy) dominating reported costs. While most of the invasive species causing the highest monetary losses in the Mediterranean are present in many countries, their observed costs are only reported by a few. For example, our database only contains observed costs for cnidarians in Israel, despite the presence of a number of invasive species of jellyfish all over the Mediterranean (
Not surprisingly and in line with earlier literature establishing correlations between economic development and invasions (
Impacts generally spanned various sectors affecting a diverse set of stakeholders; however, the vast majority of reported costs were attributed to damages or losses (92.1% of total costs, $25.15 billion), possibly indicating relatively limited investments in management or, at best, limited reporting of management expenditure. Our results also provide evidence for strong taxonomic gaps and biases, with most costs derived from few invasive species or taxonomic groups. The top 10 costliest species (Suppl. material
Our database contains no information on the economic cost of several IAS known to have large costs in invaded habitats elsewhere in the world, or at the global scale. Such species present as aliens in the Mediterranean, include for example the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella, the carpet sea squirt Didemnum vexillum and kikuyu grass Cenchrus clandestinus or Pennisetum clandestinum (
These gaps in species reported are also reflected in the ecological literature for the region that describes the presence of many IAS (
Reported costs of aquatic species ($7.9 billion, only $0.12 billion of which were observed) were less than half of the reported costs for terrestrial species. These covered only 37 aquatic and 28 semi-aquatic species with species-specific costs. This is despite many reports of high-impact and newer high-risk invasions in Mediterranean aquatic environments, especially the Mediterranean Sea which is among the world’s most invaded (
Notably, the costs from invasions identified in marine ecosystems (less than 0.01% of aquatic species costs) and were limited to a three species only, when there are multiple well-known invasive fish, marine mollusks and invertebrates, crustaceans, foraminifera, polychaetes and algae in the Mediterranean Sea (
Costs to the fishery sector were only $3.97 million (all observed), originating from two species: the tube worm Ficopomatus enigmaticus, and the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii. Costs to the sector of several well-known marine invaders that have been affecting fishers directly (e.g. through damages to gear, injuries, bycatch costs etc) and/or indirectly (e.g. through ecosystem degradation, competition for food etc), such as the pufferfish Lagocephalus sceleratus, the round herring Etrumeus golanii, the lionfish Pterois miles or the rabbitfishes Siganus rivulatus and S. luridus have not yet been quantified (e.g. see
Efforts to understand the spatial and taxonomic connectivity additionally highlighted the limits of the available data and the research effort conducted in the region to understand the different facets of invasion costs in the Mediterranean basin. Few broad taxonomic groups, such as terrestrial forbs and arthropods, as well as fish, had relatively far-reaching invasion costs, evidenced by network clustering. Conversely, other taxa were structurally disparate in the network, being linked to just single, or few, countries (e.g., cnidarians in Israel; aquatic plants in France and Spain), despite the wider known extent and damages of such taxa across the Mediterranean region (e.g.,
Having shed light on many of the limitations of the current understanding of economic impacts from invasions in the Mediterranean, we suggest that these shortcomings should be addressed in future research and also considered in resource managers’ and policy makers’ agendas. However, we also caution that management decisions should not be based on reported monetary costs alone, as difficult-to-quantify ecological invasion ramifications should also warrant interventions. As opposed to what one may have expected for an interconnected region such as the Mediterranean basin, no clear pattern can be identified regarding the origin of the invasive species causing costs in the area (Suppl. material
Such efforts will allow for specifying high-risk and/or high-impact invasive taxa and identifying with more accuracy the spatial and temporal scale of realized and expected impacts. Investments in standardising both costs of damages and management (
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 AlienScenarios project funded by BiodivERsA and Belmont-Forum call 2018 on biodiversity scenarios. Funds for EA and LBM contracts come from the AXA Research Fund Chair of Invasion Biology. CD was funded by the BiodivERsA-Belmont Forum Project “Alien Scenarios” (BMBF/PT DLR 01LC1807C). RNC is funded through a Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. CC was supported by Portuguese National Funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (CEECIND/02037/2017; UIDB/00295/2020 and IDP/00295/2020). DR thanks InEE-CNRS who supports the network GdR 3647 ‘Invasions Biologiques’, and BiodivERsA who supported the project ‘ASICS’ via the cofund call 2019–2020 ‘Biodiversity and Climate Change’. AN acknowledges funding from EXPRO grant no. 19-28807X (Czech Science Foundation) and long-term research development project RVO 67985939 (Czech Academy of Sciences). The authors also wish to acknowledge for the translation of the abstract in French, Gauthier Dobigny, in Italian, Paride Balzani, in Arabic, Ahmed Taheri, and in Croatian, Sandra Hodic.
Underlying data are publicly available in
Mediterranean database
Data type: xlsx file database with cost entries for the Mediterranean basin
Explanation note: The dataset used for the analysis of costs of invasive species for the Mediterranean basin.
Appendix
Data type: tables and figures
Explanation note: The Appendix contains additional tables and figures referred to in the text in the form of Fig. S4; Figs S1, S2; Table S2; Appendix, as required by the journal.