Troubling travellers: are ecologically harmful alien species associated with particular introduction pathways?

Pergl, J; Pyšek, P; Bacher, Sven; Essl, F; Genovesi, P; Harrower, CA; Hulme, PE; Jeschke, JM; Kenis, M; Kühn, I; Perglová, I; Rabitsch, W; Roques, A; Roy, DB; Roy, HE; Vilà, M; Winter, M; Nentwig, Wolfgang (2017). Troubling travellers: are ecologically harmful alien species associated with particular introduction pathways? NeoBiota, 32, pp. 1-20. Pensoft Publishers 10.3897/neobiota.32.10199

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Prioritization of introduction pathways is seen as an important component of the management of bio-logical invasions. We address whether established alien plants, mammals, freshwater fish and terrestrial invertebrates with known ecological impacts are associated with particular introduction pathways (release, escape, contaminant, stowaway, corridor and unaided). We used the information from the European alien species database DAISIE (www.europe-aliens.org) supplemented by the EASIN catalogue (European Al-ien Species Information Network), and expert knowledge.
Plants introduced by the pathways release, corridor and unaided were disproportionately more likely to have ecological impacts than those introduced as contaminants. In contrast, impacts were not associ-ated with particular introduction pathways for invertebrates, mammals or fish. Thus, while for plants management strategies should be targeted towards the appropriate pathways, for animals, management should focus on reducing the total number of taxa introduced, targeting those pathways responsible for high numbers of introductions. However, regardless of taxonomic group, having multiple introduction pathways increases the likelihood of the species having an ecological impact. This may simply reflect that species introduced by multiple pathways have high propagule pressure and so have a high probability of establishment. Clearly, patterns of invasion are determined by many interacting factors and management strategies should reflect this complexity.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Ecology and Evolution (IEE) > Community Ecology [discontinued]

UniBE Contributor:

Bacher, Sven, Nentwig, Wolfgang

Subjects:

500 Science > 570 Life sciences; biology
500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)
500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

1619-0033

Publisher:

Pensoft Publishers

Language:

English

Submitter:

Alexander Strauss

Date Deposited:

11 Jun 2018 09:21

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:13

Publisher DOI:

10.3897/neobiota.32.10199

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.116167

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/116167

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