The human-mediated translocation of species poses a distinct threat to nature, human health, and economy. Although existing models calculate the invasion probability of any species, frameworks for species-specific forecasts are still missing. Here, we developed a model approach using global ship movements and environmental conditions to simulate the successive global spread of marine alien species that allows predicting the identity of those species likely to arrive next in a given habitat. In a first step, we simulated the historical steppingstone spreading dynamics of 40 marine alien species and compared predicted and observed alien species ranges. With an accuracy of 77%, the model correctly predicted the presence/absence of an alien species in an ecoregion. Spreading dynamics followed a common pattern with an initial invasion of most suitable habitats worldwide and a subsequent spread into neighboring habitats. In a second step, we used the reported distribution of 97 marine algal species with a known invasion history, and six species causing harmful algal blooms, to determine the ecoregions most likely to be invaded next under climate warming. Cluster analysis revealed that species can be classified according to three characteristic spreading profiles: emerging species, high-risk species, and widespread species. For the North Sea, the model predictions could be confirmed because two of the predicted high-risk species have recently invaded the North Sea. This study highlights that even simple models considering only shipping intensities and habitat matches are able to correctly predict the identity of the next invading marine species. alien species | model predictions | species identity | marine ecoregion | climate change T he number of alien species transported by human assistance has increased rapidly during the last decades with serious consequences for native flora and fauna (1-3). These biological invasions are considered to be one of the major drivers of biodiversity changes (4-6). Once an unwanted alien species has naturalized in the new environment, it is nearly impossible to eradicate the species, and thus the mitigation of further introduction is the most efficient way of combating biological invasions (6, 7). However, a targeted monitoring and an efficient adaptive management requires knowledge about spreading dynamics of the next potential invaders and thus about the distribution of species, their invasiveness, and the likelihood of new introductions. Although all of these topics have been analyzed on their own, the potential to predict the spreading of alien species while combining these components remains to be tested.A large amount of recent introductions can be attributed to the intensified global trade and transport as many species were accidentally or deliberately translocated through the exchange of commodities or the movements of transportation means (8, 9). The amount of exchanged commodities and the intensity of global traffic have therefore been found to be a good predictor to model th...