The Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) is an important tool for biological invasion policy and management and has been adopted as an International Union for Conservation of ...Nature (IUCN) standard to measure the severity of environmental impacts caused by organisms living outside their native ranges. EICAT has already been incorporated into some national and local decision‐making procedures, making it a particularly relevant resource for addressing the impact of non‐native species. Recently, some of the underlying conceptual principles of EICAT, particularly those related to the use of the precautionary approach, have been challenged. Although still relatively new, guidelines for the application and interpretation of EICAT will be periodically revisited by the IUCN community, based on scientific evidence, to improve the process. Some of the criticisms recently raised are based on subjectively selected assumptions that cannot be generalized and may harm global efforts to manage biological invasions. EICAT adopts a precautionary principle by considering a species’ impact history elsewhere because some taxa have traits that can make them inherently more harmful. Furthermore, non‐native species are often important drivers of biodiversity loss even in the presence of other pressures. Ignoring the precautionary principle when tackling the impacts of non‐native species has led to devastating consequences for human well‐being, biodiversity, and ecosystems, as well as poor management outcomes, and thus to significant economic costs. EICAT is a relevant tool because it supports prioritization and management of non‐native species and meeting and monitoring progress toward the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) Target 6.
Uso de la Clasificación de Impacto Ambiental de los Taxones Exóticos de la UICN para la toma de decisiones
Resumen
La Clasificación de Impacto Ambiental de los Taxones Exóticos (EICAT, en inglés) es una herramienta importante para las políticas y manejo de las invasiones biológicas y ha sido adoptada como un estándar de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) para medir la seriedad del impacto ambiental causado por los organismos que viven fuera de su extensión nativa. La EICAT ya ha sido incorporada a algunos procedimientos locales y nacionales de toma de decisiones, lo que la vuelve un recurso particularmente relevante para abordar el impacto de las especies no nativas. Algunos principios conceptuales subyacentes de la EICAT han sido cuestionados recientemente, en particular aquellos relacionados con el uso del principio de precaución. Aunque todavía son relativamente nuevas, las directrices para la aplicación e interpretación de la EICAT tendrán una revisión periódica, basada en evidencia científica, por parte de la comunidad de la UICN para mejorar el proceso. Algunas de las críticas recientes están basadas en suposiciones seleccionadas subjetivamente que no pueden generalizarse y podrían perjudicar los esfuerzos globales para manejar las invasiones biológicas. La EICAT adopta un principio de precaución cuando considera el historial de impacto de una especie en cualquier otro lugar ya que algunos taxones tienen características que podrían volverlos más dañinos. Además, las especies no nativas suelen ser factores de pérdida de bidiversidad, incluso bajo otras presiones. Cuando ignoramos el principio de precaución al abordar el impacto de las especies no nativas, hay consecuencias devastadoras para el bienestar humano, la biodiversidad y los ecosistemas, así como resultados pobres de conservación, y por lo tanto con costos económicos importantes. La EICAT es una herramienta relevante porque respalda la priorización y el manejo de las especies no nativas y ayuda con el cumplimiento y monitoreo del progreso para llegar al objetivo 6 del Marco Mundial de Biodiversidad Kunming‐Montreal.
【摘要】
外来生物环境影响分类 (Environmental impact classification for alien taxa, EICAT) 是生物入侵政策和管理的重要工具, 已被世界自然保护联盟 (International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN) 作为标准来衡量生活在原产地以外的生物对环境影响的严重程度。一些国家和地区的决策程序也整合了 EICAT, 将其作为应对外来生物影响的一项重要的相关资源。然而, 近期 EICAT 的一些基本概念原则, 特别是关于使用预防性方法的原则受到了质疑。这一工具目前仍比较新颖, 而 IUCN 将根据科学证据, 定期重新审查其应用和说明指南, 以改进 EICAT 的流程。最近提出的一些批评是基于主观选择的假设, 不能一概而论, 且可能会破坏管理生物入侵的全球努力。由于某些类群的特性可能使其本身具有更大的危害性, 因此, EICAT 采用了预防性原则, 考虑了物种历史上在其他地方造成的影响。此外, 即使存在其他压力, 外来物种往往也是造成生物多样性丧失的重要因素。在应对外来物种的影响时忽视预防性原则, 已经给人类福祉、生物多样性和生态系统带来了灾难性后果, 并导致管理效果不佳, 因而也产生了巨大的经济损失。而 EICAT 是一个适用的工具, 因为它可以支持对外来物种进行优先排序和管理, 以及实现昆明‐蒙特利尔全球生物多样性框架 (GBF) 目标6并监测其进展情况。【翻译: 胡怡思; 审校: 聂永刚】
1. The development of transgenic technologies, coupled with sterile insect techniques (SIT), is being explored in relation to new approaches for the biological control of insect pests. Recent studies ...have shown that there are often fitness costs associated with transgenic insect strains, but the impact of these costs on their potential use in pest control is poorly understood. 2. In this paper, we explore the impact of an insect fitness cost on two control strategies (classical SIT and transgenic late‐acting bisex lethality) using a stage‐structured mathematical model, which is parameterized for the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Counter to the majority of studies, we use realistic pulsed release strategies and incorporate a fitness cost, which is manifested as a reduction in male mating competitiveness. 3. For both models we show that the level of control of a pest mosquito population is highly sensitive to the rate at which the transgenic or sterile males are released. Population control is more effective when smaller numbers of sterile/transgenic males are released more frequently than larger and less frequent releases. 4. If the wild‐type mosquito population exhibits cycles of peaks and troughs in abundance, as is the case for many insect species, then high frequency releases of transgenic males not only reduce mosquito abundance, but they may dampen future pest outbreaks, whereas the use of SIT alone may have an adverse effect, causing an increase in mosquito abundance. Additionally, the timing of sterile/transgenic male release during the mosquito population cycle is critical in reducing pest outbreak levels. 5. In all cases, the reduced fitness of the sterile/transgenic males causes reductions in control, thus requiring more frequent or greater magnitude releases. 6. Synthesis and applications. The sterile insect technique is considered to be a valuable non‐chemical tool for pest management. With the potential application of recent genetic developments to enhance the technique, it is becoming increasingly important to consider the wider ecological implications of this biological control strategy. Predicting the most efficient release strategies will be important in combating pest and vector insects as well as for limiting potential broader ecological effects. Although the focus of our models are based on the mosquito, A. aegypti, which can spread yellow fever, dengue fever and Chikungunya disease, our modelling approach and results can be applied more broadly to other species.
1. Exotic annual plants are an increasingly important ecological issue and new, creative approaches to management are required. In desert ecosystems of the southwestern USA, the forbs Brassica ...tournefortii, Erodium cicutarium and Schismus spp. dominate and alter native annual communities. Hand weeding B. tournefortii is currently the most common control method employed, but weeding is inadequate and expensive for managing large‐scale invasions. New methods must be developed to conserve and restore desert ecosystems. 2. Exotic annuals in desert systems have rapid germination and phenology compared to natives, indicating that a window for selective control of exotic annuals may occur immediately after exotic seedling emergence. We tested the role of timing in control methods by comparing a cotyledon‐stage glyphosate application to a bolting‐stage application and to hand weeding B. tournefortii, plus an untreated check. Treatments were tested at two sites dominated by either exotic or native annuals and followed for 2 years; early application was repeated the second year. Cover and richness were evaluated during seedling and peak flowering stages underneath and between shrubs. 3. Early glyphosate application did not affect native cover, but did reduce exotic cover. Late herbicide negatively impacted both exotics and natives. Natives had little positive response, and then only through hand weeding under shrubs, but the same treatment caused an increase in the exotic E. cicutarium. 4. Synthesis and applications. The rapid phenology of exotic annuals may be exploited to control exotics while minimizing impacts on native plants in desert communities. This approach may be useful for other invasions in other ecosystems by species with rapid, early germination, or may act as a supplement to improve the efficacy of existing management regimes.
1. The ornamental plant trade, forestry, and agriculture have been responsible for the initial introduction of over 60% of invasive alien plant species. Screening tools to test potentially new ...horticultural species should help curtail the continued introduction of new invaders. 2. Using two methods for analysing phylogenetically independent contrasts (PICs) of known invasive and non‐invasive, exotic woody horticultural species, we tested the potential of relative growth rate (RGR) and related traits including net assimilation rate (NAR), leaf area ratio (LAR), and specific leaf area (SLA) as predictors of invasiveness. These 29 PICs include 65 species and broadly cover angiosperms. 3. Without accounting for phylogeny, no significant differences were found in seedling RGR or related traits between invasive and non‐invasive woody species. Using PICs, invasive species' RGRs were significantly higher. RGR was considerably more significant using our extensive dataset than in previous smaller studies, while SLA and LAR remained marginally significant. NAR was significantly higher for invasives for the 10-20 days interval. 4. Analysis of this broad data set confirms that RGR is significantly higher for invasive woody species than their non‐invasive counterparts, and may serve as a useful biological predictor of invasiveness for woody angiosperms. This expanded study shows that plant species use different physiological and biomass allocation patterns to achieve higher RGR; therefore individual components of RGR, such as SLA, do not consistently predict potential invasiveness of species. 5. Synthesis and applications. Comparative seedling RGR studies show that this measure has potential as a screening tool for new exotic plant species. Unfortunately, more easily measurable components of RGR do not consistently predict invasiveness, as previously thought. Using seedling RGR analysis as an invasive species' screening tool requires growing a species proposed for introduction with related invasive and non‐invasive species. If the tested species' RGR is higher or not significantly different from its known invasive counterpart, it should be considered highly likely to become invasive, and excluded from further consideration as a potential horticultural species. Seedling RGR could potentially produce a useful, straightforward screening tool when phylogenetically related species or cultivars are available.
1. Small‐size, directed networks are relevant for many biological applications, from meta‐populations to food webs, from transport flows to evolutionary trees, from epidemics within households to ...outbreaks of emerging plant pathogens (e.g. Phytophthora ramorum). However, little attention has been paid to dynamic processes in these networks. 2. In the horticultural trade, structural change in hierarchical categories, i.e. the proportion of producers, wholesalers and retailers, can influence the likelihood that plant epidemics will take place in such systems, but it is unclear how. 3. We model disease spread and establishment in directed networks of 100 nodes at four connectance levels in six network structures local, small‐world, random, and scale‐free (SF) networks with positive, no, and negative correlation between in‐ and out‐degree (number of incoming and outgoing links), and study the role of hierarchical categories. 4. For non‐SF networks, the correlation coefficient between number of incoming and outgoing links is negatively correlated with the proportion of producers and retailers, and positively correlated with the proportion of wholesalers. Given the previously reported negative correlation between the in-out degree correlation coefficient and the epidemic threshold, adding producers/retailers and removing wholesalers can contribute to making epidemics more difficult in non‐SF networks. For SF networks these associations are not generally present, as in these structures epidemic development is driven by the presence of hubs, rather than the features of the majority of the nodes. 5. Synthesis and applications. despite the importance of trade movements of plants for plant epidemics and the emergence of new plant pathogens, little is known about the current contact structure of horticultural networks within and among nations, and about how this is changing. Such information is important for risk assessment and management in plant health regulation. This study thus calls for the long‐term collection of data on the number and degree distribution of plant producers, wholesalers and retailers. Our results suggest that plant disease management should focus on the middle‐tier of the nursery hierarchy. This result is likely to pertain also to other biological applications of small‐size directed networks.
1. The identification of dispersal mechanisms which facilitate particular biological invasions is paramount for the successful management of invasive species. If the dispersal mechanism promotes high ...propagule pressure, the probability of successful establishment and spread is enhanced. 2. Invasive species may enter mainland Australia from Papua New Guinea via the Torres Strait islands, and their dispersal through the region may be assisted by wind. The island sugarcane planthopper Eumetopina flavipes is of particular concern to Australian quarantine authorities. Long‐distance, wind‐assisted immigration from Papua New Guinea may be responsible for the continued presence of E. flavipes in the Torres Strait islands and on the tip of mainland Australia. Simulation was used to predict E. flavipes wind‐assisted migration potential from Papua New Guinea into the Torres Strait islands and mainland Australia. Field studies were used to test the predictions. 3. Wind‐assisted immigration from Papua New Guinea was predicted to occur widely throughout the Torres Strait islands and the tip of mainland Australia, especially in the presence of tropical depressions and cyclones. Simulation showed potential for a definite, seasonal immigration which reflected variation in the onset, length and cessation of the summer monsoon. 4. In general, simulation predictions did not explain E. flavipes observed infestations. The discrepancy suggests that post‐colonization processes such as the temporal and spatial availability of host may be equally or more important than possible wind‐assisted immigration in determining population establishment, persistence and viability. 5. Despite the potential for wide‐spread, annual immigration throughout the Torres Strait islands and the tip of mainland Australia, E. flavipes control may be possible by managing the cultivation of host plants on an ongoing annual basis to avoid recolonization, especially prior to or during critical immigration periods. 6. Synthesis and applications. Wind may promote significant incursions of E. flavipes from Papua New Guinea into northern Australia. Management strategies should consider the relative importance of both pre‐ and post‐invasion processes in determining establishment success, so that response measures can be implemented at the appropriate stage of invasion. In this way, successful control may be enhanced, serving to reduce the overall cost of invasion.
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