Managing biological invasions: the cost of inaction.

Ahmed, Danish A., Hudgins, Emma J., Cuthbert, Ross N. , Kourantidou, Melina, Diagne, Christophe, Haubrock, Phillip J., Leung, Brian, Liu, Chunlong, Leroy, Boris, Petrovskii, Sergei, Beidas, Ayah and Courchamp, Franck (2022) Managing biological invasions: the cost of inaction. Open Access Biological Invasions, 24 . pp. 1927-1946. DOI 10.1007/s10530-022-02755-0.

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Supplementary data:

Abstract

Ecological and socioeconomic impacts from biological invasions are rapidly escalating worldwide. While effective management underpins impact mitigation, such actions are often delayed, insufficient or entirely absent. Presently, management delays emanate from a lack of monetary rationale to invest at early invasion stages, which precludes effective prevention and eradication. Here, we provide such rationale by developing a conceptual model to quantify the cost of inaction, i.e., the additional expenditure due to delayed management, under varying time delays and management efficiencies. Further, we apply the model to management and damage cost data from a relatively data-rich genus (Aedes mosquitoes). Our model demonstrates that rapid management interventions following invasion drastically minimise costs. We also identify key points in time that differentiate among scenarios of timely, delayed and severely delayed management intervention. Any management action during the severely delayed phase results in substantial losses (>50% of the potential maximum loss). For Aedes spp., we estimate that the existing management delay of 55 years led to an additional total cost of approximately $ 4.57 billion (14% of the maximum cost), compared to a scenario with management action only seven years prior (< 1% of the maximum cost). Moreover, we estimate that in the absence of management action, long-term losses would have accumulated to US$ 32.31 billion, or more than seven times the observed inaction cost. These results highlight the need for more timely management of invasive alien species—either pre-invasion, or as soon as possible after detection—by demonstrating how early investments rapidly reduce long-term economic impacts.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: InvaCost; Invasive alien species; Logistic growth; Socioeconomic impacts; Prevention and biosecurity; Long-term management
Research affiliation: Woods Hole
OceanRep > GEOMAR > FB3 Marine Ecology > FB3-EOE-B Experimental Ecology - Benthic Ecology
Main POF Topic: PT6: Marine Life
Refereed: Yes
Open Access Journal?: No
Publisher: Springer
Related URLs:
Date Deposited: 18 Mar 2022 13:03
Last Modified: 07 Feb 2024 15:44
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/55549

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