Ecological Impacts of Alien Species Quantification, Scope, Caveats, and Recommendations

Despite intensive research during the past decade on the effects of alien species, invasion science still lacks the capacity to accurately predict the impacts of those species and, therefore, to provide timely advice to managers on where limited resources should be allocated. This capacity has been...

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Published inBioscience Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 55 - 63
Main Authors KUMSCHICK, SABRINA, GAERTNER, MIRIJAM, VILÀ, MONTSERRAT, ESSL, FRANZ, JESCHKE, JONATHAN M., PYŠEK, PETR, RICCIARDI, ANTHONY, BACHER, SVEN, BLACKBURN, TIM M., DICK, JAIMIE T.A., EVANS, THOMAS, HULME, PHILIP E., KÜHN, INGOLF, MRUGAŁA, AGATA, PERGL, JAN, RABITSCH, WOLFGANG, RICHARDSON, DAVID M., SENDEK, AGNIESZKA, WINTER, MARTEN
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Oxford University Press 01.01.2015
Subjects
Comparative analysis
Ecology
Habitats
Introduced species
Invasive species
Nonnative species
Overview Articles
Taxonomy
prediction
context dependence
ecosystem functioning
management
biological invasions
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Summary:Despite intensive research during the past decade on the effects of alien species, invasion science still lacks the capacity to accurately predict the impacts of those species and, therefore, to provide timely advice to managers on where limited resources should be allocated. This capacity has been limited partly by the context-dependent nature of ecological impacts, research highly skewed toward certain taxa and habitat types, and the lack of standardized methods for detecting and quantifying impacts. We review different strategies, including specific experimental and observational approaches, for detecting and quantifying the ecological impacts of alien species. These include a four-way experimental plot design for comparing impact studies of different organisms. Furthermore, we identify hypothesis-driven parameters that should be measured at invaded sites to maximize insights into the nature of the impact. We also present strategies for recognizing high-impact species. Our recommendations provide a foundation for developing systematic quantitative measurements to allow comparisons of impacts across alien species, sites, and time.
ISSN:0006-3568
1525-3244
DOI:10.1093/biosci/biu193