Developing a framework of minimum standards for the risk assessment of alien species

Roy, Helen E.; Rabitsch, Wolfgang; Scalera, Riccardo; Stewart, Alan; Gallardo, Belinda; Genovesi, Piero; Essl, Franz; Adriaens, Tim; Bacher, Sven; Booy, Olaf; Branquart, Etienne; Brunel, Sarah; Copp, Gordon Howard; Dean, Hannah; D'hondt, Bram; Josefsson, Melanie; Kenis, Marc; Kettunen, Marianne; Linnamagi, Merike; Lucy, Frances; Martinou, Angeliki; Moore, Niall; Nentwig, Wolfgang; Nieto, Ana; Pergl, Jan; Peyton, Jodey; Roques, Alain; Schindler, Stefan; Schönrogge, Karsten; Solarz, Wojciech; Stebbing, Paul D.; Trichkova, Teodora; Vanderhoeven, Sonia; Valkenburg, Johan van; Zenetos, Argyro

doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13025

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Developing a framework of minimum standards for the risk assessment of alien species

Roy, Helen E. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
Rabitsch, Wolfgang Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria
Scalera, Riccardo IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group, Rome, Italy
Stewart, Alan University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
Gallardo, Belinda Pyrenean Institute of Ecology, Spanish National Research Council, Zaragoza, Spain
Genovesi, Piero Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Rome, Italy
Essl, Franz Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria - Division of Conservation Biology, Vegetation and Landscape Ecology, Faculty Centre of Biodiversity, University of Vienna, Austria
Adriaens, Tim Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Brussels, Belgium
Bacher, Sven Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland -
Booy, Olaf National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Sand Hutton, York, UK - Centre for Wildlife Management, School of Biology, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Branquart, Etienne Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Belgian Science Policy Office, Brussels, Belgium
Brunel, Sarah European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO), Paris, France
Copp, Gordon Howard Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft, UK - School of Conservation Sciences, Bournemouth University, Dorset, UK
Dean, Hannah Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
D'hondt, Bram Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Belgian Science Policy Office, Brussels, Belgium -
Josefsson, Melanie Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden
Kenis, Marc CABI, Delemont, Switzerland
Kettunen, Marianne Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), C/O Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Linnamagi, Merike Estonian Ministry of Environment, Tallinn, Estonia
Lucy, Frances Departmentof Environmental Science, School of Science, Institute of Technology, Sligo, Co. Sligo, Ireland
Martinou, Angeliki Joint Services Health Unit, RAF Akrotiri, Akrotiri, Cyprus
Moore, Niall National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Sand Hutton, York, UK
Nentwig, Wolfgang Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Nieto, Ana IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) 64, Brussels, Belgium
Pergl, Jan Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, Pruhonice, Czech Republic
Peyton, Jodey Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
Roques, Alain Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Orléans, France
Schindler, Stefan Environment Agency Austria, Vienna, Austria
Schönrogge, Karsten Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK
Solarz, Wojciech Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
Stebbing, Paul D. Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Weymouth, Dorset, UK
Trichkova, Teodora Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Vanderhoeven, Sonia Belgian Biodiversity Platform, Belgian Science Policy Office, Brussels, Belgium
Valkenburg, Johan van Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, National Reference Centre (NRC), Wageningen, the Netherlands
Zenetos, Argyro Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Anavyssos, Greece

01.03.2018

Published in:

Journal of Applied Ecology. - 2018, vol. 55, no. 2, p. 526–538

English Biological invasions are a threat to biodiversity, society and the economy. There is an urgent need to provide evidence-based assessments of the risks posed by invasive alien species (IAS) to prioritize action. Risk assessments underpin IAS policies in many ways: informing legislation; providing justification of restrictions in trade or consumer activities; prioritizing surveillance and rapid response. There are benefits to ensuring consistency in content of IAS risk assessments globally, and this can be achieved by providing a framework of minimum standards as a checklist for quality assurance. From a review of existing risk assessment protocols, and with reference to the requirements of the EU Regulation on IAS (1143/2014) and international agreements including the World Trade Organisation, Convention on Biological Diversity and International Plant Protection Convention, coupled with consensus methods, we identified and agreed upon 14 minimum standards (attributes) a risk- assessment scheme should include. The agreed minimum standards were as follows: (1) basic species description; (2) likelihood of invasion; (3) distribution, spread and impacts; (4) assessment of introduction pathways; (5) assessment of impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems; (6) Assessment of impact on ecosystem services; (7) assessment of socio-economic impacts; (8) consideration of status (threatened or protected) of species or habitat under threat; (9) assessment of effects of future climate change; (10) completion possible even when there is a lack of information; (11) documents information sources; (12) provides a summary in a consistent and interpretable form; (13) includes uncertainty; (14) includes quality assurance. In deriving these minimum standards, gaps in knowledge required for completing risk assessments and the scope of existing risk assessment protocols were revealed, most notably in relation to assessing benefits, socio-economic impacts and impacts on ecosystem services but also inclusion of consideration of climate change. Policy implications. We provide a checklist of components that should be within invasive alien species risk assessments and recommendations to develop risk assessments to meet these proposed minimum standards. Although inspired by implementation of the European Union Regulation on invasive alien species, and as such developed specifically within a European context, the derived framework and minimum standards could be applied globally.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Biologie

Language