A prioritised list of invasive alien species to assist the effective implementation of EU legislation

Carboneras, C; Genovesi, P; Vilà, M; Blackburn, TM; Carrete, M; Clavero, M; D’hondt, B; Orueta, JF; Gallardo, B; Geraldes, P; González-Moreno, P; Gregory, RD; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Paquet, JY; Pyšek, P; Rabitsch, W; Ramírez, I; Scalera, R; Tella, JL; Walton, P; ... (2018). A prioritised list of invasive alien species to assist the effective implementation of EU legislation. Journal of Applied Ecology, 55(2), pp. 539-547. Blackwell Scientific Publications 10.1111/1365-2664.12997

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1. Effective prevention and control of invasive species generally relies on a compre-hensive, coherent and representative list of species that enables resources to be used optimally. European Union (EU) Regulation 1143/2014 on invasive alien spe-cies (IAS) aims to control or eradicate priority species, and to manage pathways to prevent the introduction and establishment of new IAS; it applies to species consid-ered of Union concern and subject to formal risk assessment. So far, 49 species have been listed but the criteria for selecting species for risk assessment have not been disclosed and were probably unsystematic.

2. We developed a simple method to systematically rank IAS according to their maxi-mum potential threat to biodiversity in the EU. We identified 1,323 species as po-tential candidates for listing, and evaluated them against their invasion stages and reported impacts, using information from databases and scientific literature.

3. 900 species fitted the criteria for listing according to IAS Regulation. We prioritised 207 species for urgent risk assessment, 59 by 2018 and 148 by 2020, based on their potential to permanently damage native species or ecosystems; another 336 species were identified for a second phase (by 2025), to prevent or reverse their profound impacts on biodiversity; and a further 357 species for assessment by 2030.

4. Policy implications. We propose a systematic, proactive approach to selecting and prioritising IAS for risk assessment to assist European Union policy implementation. We assess an unprecedented number of species with potential to harm EU biodiversity using a simple methodology and recommend which species should be considered for risk assessment in a ranked order of priority along the timeline 2018–2030, based on their maximum reported impact and their invasion history in Europe.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE)

UniBE Contributor:

Nentwig, Wolfgang

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology

ISSN:

0021-8901

Publisher:

Blackwell Scientific Publications

Language:

English

Submitter:

Alexander Strauss

Date Deposited:

08 Jun 2018 14:03

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:13

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/1365-2664.12997

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.116215

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/116215

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