Quote:

Invasive Species Are Costing the Global Economy Billions, Study Finds Thousands of invasive species introduced to new ecosystems around the world are causing more than $423 billion in estimated losses to the global economy every year by harming nature, damaging food systems and threatening human health, a wide-ranging scientific report published on Monday has found. . . . Over the last few centuries, humans have intentionally and unintentionally introduced more than 37,000 species to places outside their natural ranges as the world has become more interconnected, the assessment said. More than 3,500 of those are considered invasive because they are harmful to their new ecosystems.

Water taken on board for ballast, releasing that at the destination port, along with small marine critters sucked up with the water. In Australia we have intentionally introduced cats, pigs, rabbits, foxes, camels and cane toads and these critters caused some native critters to go extinct. Camels do great harm to fragile desert ecosystems. Crown of Thorns starfish do great damage to GBR corals.


Quote:

“We are seeing unprecedented increases in the numbers of alien species worldwide,” Helen Roy, an ecologist and one of the leaders of the new study, said in an interview. “It’s about 200 new alien species every year. And, yes, with those kinds of numbers, we will also see the impacts increasing.” The report is the most exhaustive look yet at how invasive nonnative species are driving biodiversity loss. It was compiled by 86 experts from 49 countries, who drew on thousands of scientific studies and contributions from Indigenous people and local communities. Some species are relocated by global forces like wildlife trade and international shipping. Zebra mussels, for instance, are an invasive species that has driven local mussels to the brink of extinction in the Great Lakes and forced power plants to spend millions unclogging water intakes. They probably arrived in North America on cargo ships from Europe in the 1980s. Other plants and animals have been known to hitch a ride with ordinary travelers moving by car, plane or train. Invasions can also damage human health. Mosquitoes that transmit diseases like malaria, dengue fever and the Zika virus have become invasive around the world. “Usually the poor communities are the ones that suffer the most,” said Aníbal Pauchard, another leader of the assessment. “At the same time, with climate change, you’re going to have mosquitoes going higher, you know? So getting, for example, to New York.” Disturbed ecosystems may be unable to deliver some of the services depended on by humans, like maintaining fisheries, regulating rain patterns and purifying drinking water. Invasive species also make ecosystems more vulnerable by reducing the biodiversity that makes them resilient to diseases and other threats. That became vividly clear last month when wildfires in Hawaii, fueled by invasive nonnative grasses and higher temperatures, killed at least 115 people. In recent years, invasive grasses have fueled other deadly fires in Chile and Australia.

Of course, we are doing something abput this problem. Yeah.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/climate/invasive-species-cost-ipbes.html