Troubling travellers : are ecologically harmful alien species associated with particular introduction pathways?
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Pensoft Publishers
Abstract
Prioritization of introduction pathways is seen as an important component of the management of biological
invasions. We address whether established alien plants, mammals, freshwater fish and terrestrial
invertebrates with known ecological impacts are associated with particular introduction pathways (release,
escape, contaminant, stowaway, corridor and unaided). We used the information from the European alien
species database DAISIE (www.europe-aliens.org) supplemented by the EASIN catalogue (European Alien
Species Information Network), and expert knowledge.
Plants introduced by the pathways release, corridor and unaided were disproportionately more likely
to have ecological impacts than those introduced as contaminants. In contrast, impacts were not associated
with particular introduction pathways for invertebrates, mammals or fish. Thus, while for plants
management strategies should be targeted towards the appropriate pathways, for animals, management
should focus on reducing the total number of taxa introduced, targeting those pathways responsible for
high numbers of introductions. However, regardless of taxonomic group, having multiple introduction
pathways increases the likelihood of the species having an ecological impact. This may simply reflect that
species introduced by multiple pathways have high propagule pressure and so have a high probability of
establishment. Clearly, patterns of invasion are determined by many interacting factors and management
strategies should reflect this complexity.
Description
CITATION: Pergl, J., et al. 2017. Troubling travellers : are ecologically harmful alien species associated with particular introduction pathways?. NeoBiota, 32:1-20,
doi:10.3897/neobiota.32.10199.
The original publication is available at https://neobiota.pensoft.net
The original publication is available at https://neobiota.pensoft.net
Keywords
Introduced organisms, Invasive species, Biological invasions
Citation
Pergl, J., et al. 2017. Troubling travellers : are ecologically harmful alien species associated with particular introduction pathways?. NeoBiota, 32:1-20,
doi:10.3897/neobiota.32.10199