Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25, Vodňany, Czech Republic.
School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 5DL, UK.
Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 28;12(1):10829. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-15079-9.
Biological invasions by amphibian and reptile species (i.e. herpetofauna) are numerous and widespread, having caused severe impacts on ecosystems, the economy and human health. However, there remains no synthesised assessment of the economic costs of these invasions. Therefore, using the most comprehensive database on the economic costs of invasive alien species worldwide (InvaCost), we analyse the costs caused by invasive alien herpetofauna according to taxonomic, geographic, sectoral and temporal dimensions, as well as the types of these costs. The cost of invasive herpetofauna totaled at 17.0 billion US$ between 1986 and 2020, divided split into 6.3 billion US$ for amphibians, 10.4 billion US$ for reptiles and 334 million US$ for mixed classes. However, these costs were associated predominantly with only two species (brown tree snake Boiga irregularis and American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus), with 10.3 and 6.0 billion US$ in costs, respectively. Costs for the remaining 19 reported species were relatively minor (< 0.6 billion US$), and they were entirely unavailable for over 94% of known invasive herpetofauna worldwide. Also, costs were positively correlated with research effort, suggesting research biases towards well-known taxa. So far, costs have been dominated by predictions and extrapolations (79%), and thus empirical observations for impact were relatively scarce. The activity sector most affected by amphibians was authorities-stakeholders through management (> 99%), while for reptiles, impacts were reported mostly through damages to mixed sectors (65%). Geographically, Oceania and Pacific Islands recorded 63% of total costs, followed by Europe (35%) and North America (2%). Cost reports have generally increased over time but peaked between 2011 and 2015 for amphibians and 2006 to 2010 for reptiles. A greater effort in studying the costs of invasive herpetofauna is necessary for a more complete understanding of invasion impacts of these species. We emphasise the need for greater control and prevention policies concerning the spread of current and future invasive herpetofauna.
生物入侵是指物种（即爬行动物和两栖动物）的入侵，生物入侵现象非常普遍且数量众多，已对生态系统、经济和人类健康造成了严重影响。然而，目前仍缺乏对这些入侵造成的经济成本的综合评估。因此，我们利用全球入侵外来物种经济成本的最全面数据库（InvaCost），根据分类学、地理、部门和时间维度以及这些成本的类型，分析外来入侵爬行动物和两栖动物造成的成本。1986 年至 2020 年期间，入侵爬行动物和两栖动物造成的成本总计 170 亿美元，其中 63 亿美元归因于两栖动物，104 亿美元归因于爬行动物，3.34 亿美元归因于混合类别。然而，这些成本主要与两个物种（棕树蛇和美洲牛蛙）有关，分别为 103 亿美元和 60 亿美元。其余 19 种报告的物种的成本相对较小（<0.6 亿美元），而全球已知的入侵爬行动物和两栖动物中，超过 94%的物种成本则完全未知。此外，成本与研究投入呈正相关，这表明研究存在偏向于知名类群的偏差。到目前为止，成本主要由预测和推断（79%）主导，因此，关于影响的实证观察相对较少。受两栖动物影响最大的活动部门是通过管理（>99%）为利益相关者和当局提供服务，而对于爬行动物，主要通过混合部门（65%）报告了影响。从地理上看，大洋洲和太平洋岛屿记录了总成本的 63%，其次是欧洲（35%）和北美（2%）。总体而言，成本报告随着时间的推移而增加，但在 2011 年至 2015 年期间达到两栖动物成本的峰值，在 2006 年至 2010 年达到爬行动物成本的峰值。需要进一步努力研究入侵爬行动物和两栖动物的成本，以更全面地了解这些物种的入侵影响。我们强调需要制定更大的控制和预防政策，以防止当前和未来入侵爬行动物和两栖动物的传播。
