Abstract
Biological invasions are responsible for tremendous impacts globally, including huge economic losses and management expenditures. Efficiently mitigating this major driver of global change requires the improvement of public awareness and policy regarding its substantial impacts on our socio-ecosystems. One option to contribute to this overall objective is to inform people on the economic costs linked to these impacts; however, until now, a reliable synthesis of invasion costs has never been produced at a global scale. Here, we introduce InvaCost as the most up-to-date, comprehensive, harmonised and robust compilation and description of economic cost estimates associated with biological invasions worldwide. We have developed a systematic, standardised methodology to collect information from peer-reviewed articles and grey literature, while ensuring data validity and method repeatability for further transparent inputs. Our manuscript presents the methodology and tools used to build and populate this living and publicly available database. InvaCost provides an essential basis (2419 cost estimates currently compiled) for worldwide research, management efforts and, ultimately, for data-driven and evidence-based policymaking.
Highlights
Background & SummaryA biological invasion is the successful introduction, establishment and spread of a species outside its native range, mostly driven by human activity[1]
We introduce InvaCost as the most up-to-date, comprehensive, harmonised and robust global-scale data compilation and description of economic cost estimates associated with invasive species
We reviewed the literature published until April 2018 on the economic impacts of invasive species
Summary
A biological invasion is the successful introduction, establishment and spread of a species outside its native range, mostly driven by human activity[1]. A recent synthesis has shown that invasions of insects alone cost a minimum of US$76.0 billion per year globally[14] Despite these enormous impacts, a lack of relevant data and clear public understanding of outcomes associated with invasions provide important barriers to their effective management and mitigation[15]. We provide a full description of the process of InvaCost development, as well as specific details of all materials analysed This unique, globally representative database (n = 2419 cost estimates currently described) is freely accessible online[30] and will be regularly updated with contributions from both authors and future users. 310 GS-collected_refs; GS-screened_refs 119 Go-collected_refs; Go-screened_refs 634 TC-collected_refs; TC-screened_refs; Cited references
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