title: Global threats from invasive alien species in the twenty-first century and national response capacities.
abstract: Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten human livelihoods and biodiversity globally. Increasing globalization facilitates IAS arrival, and environmental changes, including climate change, facilitate IAS establishment. Here we provide the first global, spatial analysis of the terrestrial threat from IAS in light of twenty-first century globalization and environmental change, and evaluate national capacities to prevent and manage species invasions. We find that one-sixth of the global land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion, including substantial areas in developing economies and biodiversity hotspots. The dominant invasion vectors differ between high-income countries (imports, particularly of plants and pets) and low-income countries (air travel). Uniting data on the causes of introduction and establishment can improve early-warning and eradication schemes. Most countries have limited capacity to act against invasions. In particular, we reveal a clear need for proactive invasion strategies in areas with high poverty levels, high biodiversity and low historical levels of invasion.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK.
authors.forename: Regan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Early
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9285, USA.
authors.forename: Bethany A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9482-7743
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Dukes
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-2100, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Lawler
authors.affiliation: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-5020, USA.
authors.forename: Julian D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Olden
authors.affiliation: USDA-ARS Rangeland Resources Research Unit, Fort Collins, Colorado 82001, USA.
authors.forename: Dana M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Blumenthal
authors.affiliation: Natural Resource Stewardship and Science, U.S. National Park Service, Berkeley, California 94720-3114, USA.|Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720-3114, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7105-0561
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Edwin D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Grosholz
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1041, USA.
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ibañez
authors.affiliation: Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, California 93950, USA.
authors.forename: Luke P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-2525, USA.
authors.forename: Cascade J B
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Sorte
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.|Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-2220, USA.|Flowminder Foundation, SE-11355 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Tatem
mesh_terms: D005843:Geography; D049674:History, 21st Century; D038622:Internationality; D058865:Introduced Species