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Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand

Biological invasions are a major component of anthropogenic environmental change, incurring substantial economic costs across all sectors of society and ecosystems. There have been recent syntheses of costs for a number of countries using the newly compiled InvaCost database, but New Zealand—a count...

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Autores principales: Bodey, Thomas W., Carter, Zachary T., Haubrock, Phillip J., Cuthbert, Ross N., Welsh, Melissa J., Diagne, Christophe, Courchamp, Franck
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9387519/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35990909
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13580
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author Bodey, Thomas W.
Carter, Zachary T.
Haubrock, Phillip J.
Cuthbert, Ross N.
Welsh, Melissa J.
Diagne, Christophe
Courchamp, Franck
author_facet Bodey, Thomas W.
Carter, Zachary T.
Haubrock, Phillip J.
Cuthbert, Ross N.
Welsh, Melissa J.
Diagne, Christophe
Courchamp, Franck
author_sort Bodey, Thomas W.
collection PubMed
description Biological invasions are a major component of anthropogenic environmental change, incurring substantial economic costs across all sectors of society and ecosystems. There have been recent syntheses of costs for a number of countries using the newly compiled InvaCost database, but New Zealand—a country renowned for its approach to invasive species management—has so far not been examined. Here we analyse reported economic damage and management costs incurred by biological invasions in New Zealand from 1968 to 2020. In total, US$69 billion (NZ$97 billion) is currently reported over this ∼50-year period, with approximately US$9 billion of this considered highly reliable, observed (c.f. projected) costs. Most (82%) of these observed economic costs are associated with damage, with comparatively little invested in management (18%). Reported costs are increasing over time, with damage averaging US$120 million per year and exceeding management expenditure in all decades. Where specified, most reported costs are from terrestrial plants and animals, with damages principally borne by primary industries such as agriculture and forestry. Management costs are more often associated with interventions by authorities and stakeholders. Relative to other countries present in the InvaCost database, New Zealand was found to spend considerably more than expected from its Gross Domestic Product on pre- and post-invasion management costs. However, some known ecologically (c.f. economically) impactful invasive species are notably absent from estimated damage costs, and management costs are not reported for a number of game animals and agricultural pathogens. Given these gaps for known and potentially damaging invaders, we urge improved cost reporting at the national scale, including improving public accessibility through increased access and digitisation of records, particularly in overlooked socioeconomic sectors and habitats. This also further highlights the importance of investment in management to curtail future damages across all sectors.
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spelling pubmed-93875192022-08-19 Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand Bodey, Thomas W. Carter, Zachary T. Haubrock, Phillip J. Cuthbert, Ross N. Welsh, Melissa J. Diagne, Christophe Courchamp, Franck PeerJ Biodiversity Biological invasions are a major component of anthropogenic environmental change, incurring substantial economic costs across all sectors of society and ecosystems. There have been recent syntheses of costs for a number of countries using the newly compiled InvaCost database, but New Zealand—a country renowned for its approach to invasive species management—has so far not been examined. Here we analyse reported economic damage and management costs incurred by biological invasions in New Zealand from 1968 to 2020. In total, US$69 billion (NZ$97 billion) is currently reported over this ∼50-year period, with approximately US$9 billion of this considered highly reliable, observed (c.f. projected) costs. Most (82%) of these observed economic costs are associated with damage, with comparatively little invested in management (18%). Reported costs are increasing over time, with damage averaging US$120 million per year and exceeding management expenditure in all decades. Where specified, most reported costs are from terrestrial plants and animals, with damages principally borne by primary industries such as agriculture and forestry. Management costs are more often associated with interventions by authorities and stakeholders. Relative to other countries present in the InvaCost database, New Zealand was found to spend considerably more than expected from its Gross Domestic Product on pre- and post-invasion management costs. However, some known ecologically (c.f. economically) impactful invasive species are notably absent from estimated damage costs, and management costs are not reported for a number of game animals and agricultural pathogens. Given these gaps for known and potentially damaging invaders, we urge improved cost reporting at the national scale, including improving public accessibility through increased access and digitisation of records, particularly in overlooked socioeconomic sectors and habitats. This also further highlights the importance of investment in management to curtail future damages across all sectors. PeerJ Inc. 2022-08-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9387519/ /pubmed/35990909 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13580 Text en ©2022 Bodey et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Biodiversity
Bodey, Thomas W.
Carter, Zachary T.
Haubrock, Phillip J.
Cuthbert, Ross N.
Welsh, Melissa J.
Diagne, Christophe
Courchamp, Franck
Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand
title Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand
title_full Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand
title_fullStr Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand
title_full_unstemmed Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand
title_short Building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in New Zealand
title_sort building a synthesis of economic costs of biological invasions in new zealand
topic Biodiversity
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9387519/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35990909
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13580
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