Sammanfattning

This study aims to identify environmentally suitable areas for 15 of the most harmful invasive alien terrestrial vertebrates (IATV) in Europe in a transparent and replicable way. We used species distribution models and publicly-available data from GBIF to predict environmental suitability and to identify hotspots of IATV accounting for knowledge gaps in their distributions. To deal with the ecological particularities of invasive species, we followed a hierarchical approach to estimate the global climatic suitability for each species and incorporated this information into refined environmental suitability models within Europe. Combined predictions on environmental suitability identified potential areas of IATV concentrations or hotspots. Uncertainty of predictions identified regions requiring further survey efforts for species detection. Around 14% of Europe comprised potential hotspots of IATV richness, mainly located in northern France, UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. IATV coldspots covered similar to 9% of Europe, including southern Sweden and Finland, and northern Germany. Most of Europe (similar to 77% area) comprised uncertain suitability predictions, likely caused by a lack of data. Priorities on prevention and control should focus on potential hotspots where harmful impacts might concentrate. Promoting the collection of presence data within data-deficient areas is encouraged as a core strategy against IATVs.

Publicerad i

Scientific Reports
2020, Volym: 10, nummer: 1, artikelnummer: 11655
Utgivare: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

SLU författare

• Polaina, Ester

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Pärt, Tomas

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Rodriguez Recio, Mariano

  • Institutionen för ekologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen

SDG13 Vidta omedelbara åtgärder för att bekämpa klimatförändringarna och dess konsekvenser


UKÄ forskningsämne

Ekologi


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68387-3

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/107125