The United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) just issued a report after 4 years of work that’s not good news. Via the Washington Post.
Scientists warn invasive pests are taking a staggering toll on society
The authors of a major new U.N.-backed report say invasive species are costing the world more than $423 billion a year
...The landmark assessment found more than 3,500 harmful invasive species cost society more than $423 billion a year, a tally only expected to grow as the modern age of global trade and travel continues to supercharge the spread of plants and animals across continents like never before.
By hitching a ride on cargo ships and passenger jets, exotic species are bridging oceans, mountain ranges and other geographic divides otherwise insurmountable without human help. The result is a great scrambling of the planet’s flora and fauna, with dire implications for humans and the ecosystems they depend on.
And guess what else is boosting this damage? Leading the list:
Climate change is poised to make the problem of invasive pests worse by enabling animals such as tropical fire ants to march north into higher latitudes.
Climate change is putting plant and animals under stress as it is — which makes it easier for invasives to thrive in a disrupted environment and displace native species. Think of a fabric made of interwoven threads of many different strands. Pull out enough of them and the entire fabric can unravel.
It’s not always easy restoring the balance — if it’s even possible to control the invaders. On the island of Mauritius, an endangered species of kestrel is making a comeback from near extinction thanks to captive breeding and other efforts — and an invasive tree species.
To make a long story short, the island was once covered with evergreens that loggers removed. They had provided kestrels with prime nesting habitat. Add invasive predators like rats, cats, and mongooses to the picture, and kestrels were on the way out.
Now an invasive tree is making a difference — “the traveler’s tree, a palmlike plant in the genus Ravenala.” It turns out the trees provide ideal habitat for a favored prey of the kestrels: geckos. They thrive in the trees which they find an acceptable stand-in for the native hurricane palms which have become extremely rare in the wild. Lots travelers trees make for lots of geckos which makes for well-fed kestrels.
But those trees also have negative effects on other species.
That’s just one small example of what is a global problem. Biomes that have been relatively stable for longer than human history can unravel extremely quickly. Climate change is not helping.
Yes there have been extinctions in the past, and shifts in what dominant species prevail at any given time — but it is happening at an unprecedented pace, barring global cataclysms like giant meteor impacts and massive super volcano eruptions that have driven collapses in the past. The report warns a million species are at risk of extinction — and we are going to find out the hard way that some of them are indispensable.
If you want to see the report for yourself, you can find it here.