Managing Biological Invasions is Key with Global Change

Original research led by the RISCC leadership team provides even more evidence that managing invasions is critical for climate resilience.

Lopez, B.E., J. M. Allen, J.S. Dukes, J. Lenoir, M. Vilà , D.M. Blumenthal, E.M. Beaury, E.J. Fusco, B.B. Laginhas, T.L. Morelli , M.W. O’Neill, C.J.B. Sorte, A. Maceda-Veiga, R. Whitlock, B.A. Bradley (2022) Global environmental changes more frequently offset than intensify detrimental effects of biological invasions. PNAS 119(22): e2117389119.

Written by Jenica Allen, edited by Bianca Lopez

Summary

Invasive species can interact with other environmental changes, such as rising temperature, drought, or nutrient pollution to impact native populations, communities, and ecosystems. Some individual studies have shown that abiotic changes combined with invasive species produce amplified negative effects on native biological systems, where the outcome is even worse than expected from each stressor individually, while other studies suggest additive or offsetting effects of combined global change and invasion stressors. Lopez and colleagues synthesized past studies to reveal overall trends in interactions between abiotic global change (rising temperature, drought, or nitrogen addition) and species invasions. They found that the combined effects of species invasions and abiotic global environmental changes were typically negative but no worse than invasion impacts alone. Invasion impacts were also more strongly detrimental than warming temperatures or nitrogen deposition, two common stressors. Thus, reducing the spread of invasive species should be a top priority for mitigating harm from human-induced changes to global ecosystems.

Take home points

• Interactions between invasive species and abiotic environmental changes were mostly within the bounds of individual stressor effects, with larger than expected outcomes in about 25% of cases.

• Overall, interactions between invasions and abiotic environmental changes were typically no worse than the effects of invasions alone.

• Invasive species impacts were on average more consistently and more strongly detrimental than abiotic global environmental changes.

Management implications

• Local management of invasive species is often beneficial even in the face of other global changes such as climate change and nutrient pollution.

• Prevention of new invasive species can help to develop climate-resilient landscapes.

Keywords

Impact studies, Interactions, Global change, Meta-analysis, Synergy, Antagonism