No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide
Отсутствие насыщения в накоплении чужеродных видов во всем мире
2017-02-15
SCID: 54.1/tn2kg7jm
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alien species accumulationbiological invasionsfirst recordsglobalization and tradetaxonomic groups
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Abstract (AI)
Although research on human-mediated exchanges of species has substantially intensified during the last centuries, we know surprisingly little about temporal dynamics of alien species accumulations across regions and taxa. Using a novel database of 45,813 first records of 16,926 established alien species, we show that the annual rate of first records worldwide has increased during the last 200 years, with 37% of all first records reported most recently (1970-2014). Inter-continental and inter-taxonomic variation can be largely attributed to the diaspora of European settlers in the nineteenth century and to the acceleration in trade in the twentieth century. For all taxonomic groups, the increase in numbers of alien species does not show any sign of saturation and most taxa even show increases in the rate of first records over time. This highlights that past efforts to mitigate invasions have not been effective enough to keep up with increasing globalization.
Key Findings
1
A database comprising 45,813 first records documents 16,926 established alien species worldwide.
2
Alien-species accumulation shows no sign of saturation across taxonomic groups, and most groups exhibit increasing first-record rates over time.
3
Differences among continents and taxonomic groups are largely linked to nineteenth-century European settlement diaspora and twentieth-century trade acceleration.
4
Past invasion-mitigation efforts have not kept pace with the accelerating effects of globalization.
5
The global annual rate of alien-species first records increased over the past 200 years, with 37% occurring during 1970–2014.
Research Object
Worldwide accumulations of established alien species across regions and taxonomic groups
Research Subject
Temporal dynamics and saturation of alien-species accumulation, including trends in first-record rates and effects of globalization
Publication Details
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2017-02-15
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