Biological Invasions: Recommendations for U.S. Policy and Management

Abstract

Abstract. The Ecological Society of America has evaluated current U.S. national policies and practices on biological invasions in light of current scientific knowledge. Invasions by harmful nonnative species are increasing in number and area affected; the damages to ecosystems, economic activity, and human welfare are accumulating. Without improved strategies based on recent scientific advances and increased investments to counter invasions, harm from invasive species is likely to accelerate. Federal leadership, with the cooperation of state and local governments, is required to increase the effectiveness of prevention of invasions, detect and respond quickly to new potentially harmful invasions, control and slow the spread of existing invasions, and provide a national center to ensure that these efforts are coordinated and cost effective.Specifically, the Ecological Society of America recommends that the federal government take the following six actions: (1) Use new information and practices to better manage commercial and other pathways to reduce the transport and release of potentially harmful species; (2) Adopt more quantitative procedures for risk analysis and apply them to every species proposed for importation into the country; (3) Use new cost-effective diagnostic technologies to increase active surveillance and sharing of information about invasive species so that responses to new invasions can be more rapid and effective; (4) Create new legal authority and provide emergency funding to support rapid responses to emerging invasions; (5) Provide funding and incentives for cost-effective programs to slow the spread of existing invasive species in order to protect still uninvaded ecosystems, social and industrial infrastructure, and human welfare; and (6) Establish a National Center for Invasive Species Management (under the existing National Invasive Species Council) to coordinate and lead improvements in federal, state, and international policies on invasive species.Recent scientific and technical advances provide a sound basis for more cost-effective national responses to invasive species. Greater investments in improved technology and management practices would be more than repaid by reduced damages from current and future invasive species. The Ecological Society of America is committed to assist all levels of government and provide scientific advice to improve all aspects of invasive-species management.

Recommendations on methods for the detection and control of biological pollution in marine coastal waters

“…The invasion process includes several consecutive stages which must be taken into account while planning and implementing management options (Wittenberg & Cock 2001;Lodge et al, 2006;Minchin et al, 2009;Davis 2009). The number of species involved in the pathway is always greater than the number of species which managed to survive transport and establish a population (Figure 1).…”

“…They can alter ecosystem functioning and often seriously affect an economy and human health, and so remain high on the environmental management agenda (Lodge et al, 2006;CBD, 2004;European Commission, 2008a;Pyšek, Richardson, 2010). The bioinvasion problem in marine environment has recently been described as an exogenic unmanaged pressure, i.e.…”

“…Lodge et al 2006;European Commission, 2008a;Johnsen et al, 2011), the implementation of such plans would benefit greatly from a synthesis of international knowledge. Accordingly, an international workshop -Indicator based methods to assess and map biological pollution in the coastal waters of Norway‖ was arranged in Bergen, May 27-29, 2009 with the objective to consolidate the existing international knowledge on methods of assessment and mapping biological pollution (biopollution) in marine coastal waters.…”

Conceptual Frameworks and Methods for Advancing Invasion Ecology

“…Several authors have already called for an improvement of the implementation of existing knowledge into policies and management (Hulme 2006;Lodge et al 2006). In this paper, we focus on invasion science itself: We think there is much potential for improving the effectiveness of basic and applied research on invasions.…”

Biological invasions, ecological resilience and adaptive governance

“…Human activity intentionally and unintentionally influences species distributions, introducing species to new environments including degraded and modified environments susceptible to biological reorganization (Rahel and Olden, 2008). Invasive speciesdnon-native species that geographically spread and increase in abundance following initial establishment (Lodge et al, 2006)dby affecting ecological processes (Gandhi and Herms, 2010), engineering ecosystem structure (Crooks, 2002) or affecting community dynamics (Yurkonis et al, 2005), can significantly alter ecosystem structure and function that may result in a significant alteration in the provision of ecosystem services. Although there has been a recent shift toward prevention of invasions (Cook et al, 2010;Simberloff, 2013), traditional approaches to managing invasions have been largely reactionary in nature, with a focus on control through mitigation and eradication (Keller et al, 2007;Foxcroft and McGeoch, 2011).…”