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Spread of Alien Plant, Animal Species Predicted to Rise Globally by 2050

Asher Jones

   Asian kudzu vines smothering the southern United States. Pacific
   lionfish devouring Caribbean sealife. South American cane toads killing
   their way across Australia.
   As bad as invasive species are today, a study says they will get worse.
   [1]Researchers predict that non-native--or alien--species introductions
   will increase globally by around 36 percent during the first half of
   the 21st century.
   The researchers call for better monitoring and regulations to contain
   the spread of alien species.
   [2]The movement of plants and animals around the planet soared over the
   last century as human trade and travel opened new global pathways.
   Not all alien species are problematic, but invasive alien species--like
   kudzu--wreak [3]environmental or [4]economic havoc in their new homes.
   "Together with climate change and land use change, invasive alien
   species are posing one of the greatest threats to biodiversity," said
   Hanno Seebens, ecologist at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate
   Research Centre and lead author on the study.
   From devouring crops to clogging water pipes, [5]invasive species cost
   the United States alone around $120 billion each year. Some species are
   intentionally introduced to new regions by humans. [6]Others arrive
   accidentally as stowaways in goods shipped by planes, trucks and ships
   or as hitchhikers on luggage.
   "A species can only arrive in a new region when you connect different
   [regions]," Seebens explained. "When we extended our trade networks, we
   connected more and more [regions], which allowed more and more species
   to come."
   However, the number of possible species could taper off in the future.
   "We may just run out of species to be transported, because at some
   point, all species may have been transported already."
   To forecast alien species introductions for each continent between 2005
   and 2050, the researchers used past records of alien species
   introductions and estimates of the number of possible species that
   could be introduced.
   Alien species introductions will increase on every continent, they
   predict.

References

   1. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15333
   2. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2008.01600.x
   3. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-environ-033009-095548
   4. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/subject/economic-and-social-impacts
   5. https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/subject/economic-and-social-impacts
   6. https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/23638

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