Invasive species cost trillions in damages: study
Since 1960, damage from non-native plants and animals expanding into new territory has cost society more than $2.2 trillion, 17 times higher than previous estimates, they reported in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
The accelerating spread of invasive species -- from mosquitoes to wild boar to tough-to-eradicate plants -- blights agriculture, spreads disease and drives the growing pace of species extinction.
Earlier calculations based on highly incomplete data were already known to fall far short of reality.
To piece together a more accurate picture, an international team of researchers led by Ismael Soto, a scientist at the University of South Bohemia in the Czech Republic, compiled data on 162 invasive species whose costs have been well documented in at least a handful of countries.
They then modeled the economic impact for 78 other countries such as Bangladesh and Costa Rica, for which no data was previously available.
"We expected an underestimation of invasion costs, but the magnitude was striking," Soto told AFP.
Due mainly to high volumes of trade and travel, tens of thousands of animal and plant species have taken root, sometimes literally, far from their places of origin.
Europe is by far the continent most affected by the phenomenon, followed by North America and Asia.
"Plants were the most economically damaging group, both for damage and management," Soto said. "Cost hotspots include urban coastal areas, notably in Europe, eastern China, and the U.S."
Animals can cause devastating damage too.
Wild boar, for example, destroy crops, cornfields and vineyards, while mosquitoes -- with expanding ranges due to global warming -- impose direct costs to human health by spreading diseases such as dengue and malaria.
Another example is Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant that is very common in Europe and requires costly eradication programs.
"Our study is based on only 162 species," Soto noted. "Our figure is probably still an underestimate of a wider problem, and therefore the real economic costs could be even higher."
Using a broader definition -- including indirect costs such as lost income -- the U.N.'s biodiversity expert group, IPBES, has calculated the total cost to society of invasive species at about $400 billion annually.
© 2025 AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
11 hours ago
- Japan Today
Why are Westerners so reluctant to eat seaweed?
By Steven David Pickering Seaweed is one of the few foods that can credibly claim to be good for both people and the planet. So why don't Westerners eat more of it? It's rich in vitamins, minerals, omega-3 fatty acids and fiber. It grows without fertilizers, pesticides or fresh water, and requires no farmland. Some species even capture carbon from the atmosphere and help counter ocean acidification. From an environmental and nutritional standpoint, seaweed seems like an obvious choice for a sustainable diet. Yet in much of the West, it remains a fringe ingredient, appearing far more often wrapped around sushi in a restaurant than in a household's weekly meals. My team has been investigating this gap between seaweed's potential and its place in everyday diets. Our aim was to find out why people in some countries eat seaweed regularly and why others do not. Even actor Samuel L Jackson has recently been promoting the virtues of seaweed snacks sourced from reefs beneath offshore windfarms. But seaweed snacks are far from mainstream, especially in countries like the UK. Some of my computational social science students worked with the Europe-wide seaweed association North Sea Farmers to develop a campaign to encourage people in the Netherlands to eat more seaweed. They quickly realized that before trying to persuade people to eat more, it was important to understand the reasons they might not be eating it already. This question was the focus of our new study surveying people living in both the UK (where seaweed is rarely eaten) and Japan (where it is a daily staple). By comparing the answers, we could separate cultural familiarity from other social and psychological factors that might influence consumption. We didn't just ask whether people eat seaweed. We explored how often they eat it, how easy they think it is to buy, how likely they are to eat it in future, and how healthy they believe it to be. We also looked at their education, gender, age, political orientation, willingness to take risks, ethnic background in the UK, and levels of trust in institutions. These factors are often linked to openness to new foods and could help explain differences between countries. Some results were not too surprising. Japanese respondents ate seaweed far more often than their British counterparts, found it easier to buy, and were more willing to eat it in the future. In both countries, people who were more willing to take risks, including trying unfamiliar foods, were more likely to eat seaweed. But the really interesting differences lay in who those seaweed-eaters were. In the UK, consumption was higher among ethnic minorities and university graduates, and it tended to appeal more to those on the political left. In Japan, it was more common among women and those on the political right, reflecting its place as a traditional food rather than an alternative one. Trust in government, scientists or social media played a smaller and less consistent role, and the patterns varied between countries. In Japan, trust in government was linked with seeing seaweed as healthy, while in the UK there was no similar link. These contrasts probably reflect how seaweed is framed in each country's media and cultural narratives. The way forward Seaweed is not simply another fashionable superfood. Its potential role in sustainable food systems is supported by strong evidence. It has a low environmental footprint, can be cultivated at scale, and can improve the nutritional value of other foods when used as an ingredient. However, our research shows that making seaweed more available or promoting its health benefits will not automatically increase its use. In the UK, familiarity is a major barrier. People may have access to seaweed products yet still avoid them if they do not feel part of their cultural food landscape. In Japan, where familiarity is high, the challenge lies in ensuring younger generations keep eating it as diets become more Westernized. For countries with little tradition of eating seaweed, our research suggests the way forward is to integrate it into familiar dishes, use clear labeling and recipe ideas, and present it as an attractive and approachable option. Public figures, as Jackson has shown, can play a role in normalizing it. In countries with a strong seaweed tradition, there is room for innovation to keep the ingredient relevant and appealing in changing diets. Addressing global environmental challenges requires more than good science. It requires understanding people's habits, values and motivations, and finding ways to work with them to create change. If seaweed is to move from occasional novelty to a regular part of diets in countries where it is unfamiliar, the evidence suggests that cultural connection will be as important as nutritional value or environmental benefit. Steven David Pickering is Honorary Professor, International Relations, Brunel University of London. The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. External Link © The Conversation
SoraNews24
18 hours ago
- SoraNews24
New mineral discovered in Japan named after the goddess of the sun
Researchers are far from jaded about this jade. It's sometimes surprising what we humans don't know. Take rocks for example. Animals and plants are always moving around and evolving in a state of flux, so it's not surprising to find new ones here and there, but I would have sworn we'd have had all the rocks bagged and tagged by now. And yet a research team composed of academics, corporate scientists, and even amateur mineral researchers has managed to come across an entirely new mineral. It's a variation of jade, or more specifically, the jadeite form of what we call jade, but this rock has a composition unique enough to classify it as a mineral all its own. Only a very tiny amount of it was discovered in a sample of regular jade from Okayama Prefecture. Pure Jadeite has a chemical composition of NaAlSi2O6, but this new mineral is made up of Sr4Ti6Si4O23(OH)Cl, which includes significant amounts of strontium and titanium. ▼ This photo shows a section of jade (the white part) only two millimeters wide. Only the very small green parts are the newly discovered mineral. It was named Amaterasuite ('ah-mah-terra-soo-ite') after the Japanese creation goddess Amaterasu. Part of the reason for the naming is that jade has long been an important mineral in Japan throughout history, and was even declared the National Stone by the Japan Association of Mineralogical Sciences in 2016. It only seems fitting to name a version of jade after the main goddess of the Shinto religion in that way. But there's actually another, more important reason for the name. Many gods in Shinto are said to exist in a duality called aratama and nigitama, where the former is the raging form of the god and the latter is the peaceful form. The aratama and nigitama are one and the same god, but are never seen in the same place at the same time, kind of like two heads of the same coin. Meanwhile, minerals always have a uniform crystalline chemical arrangement, much in the way that diamond and graphite are both just carbon but differ in the way the atoms are uniformly arranged throughout. Amaterasuite, however, has two atomic arrangements existing in the same mineral but never in the same place at the same time. ▼ Diagram showing the dual structure (Type A and Type B) of Amaterasuite This type of crystalline structure has been theorized before, but Amaterasuite is the first time such a structure has ever been found in nature. This not only bridges the gap between theoretical and observed mineralogy, but it provides some more insight into the conditions that cause jade to form. Speaking of which, jade is created when the same subduction of tectonic plates that causes so many earthquakes in Japan makes small cracks in the Earth's crust. Chemicals from that part of the ocean seep into the cracks and, with the unique combination of low temperatures and high pressures, form into jade. The unique composition of Amaterasuite suggests that more complex reactions might be occurring in this process than previously thought. This also marks the second recent scientific discovery to be named after Amaterasu. We can assume zoologists in Japan are chomping at the bit to find a new species of wolf they can name after her too. Source: The Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, Yomiuri Shimbun Online, My Game News Flash Featured image: Wikipedia/Utagawa Kunisada Insert images: The Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo ● Want to hear about SoraNews24's latest articles as soon as they're published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
'Popo' the orangutan at zoo near Tokyo given 'ice cake' filled with fruit to cool off
ICHIKAWA, Chiba -- Amid record-breaking heat, a special "ice cake" filled with fruit was presented to "Popo," a 7-year-old female orangutan, at Ichikawa City Zoo here on Aug. 17. This event was part of a celebration for "International Orangutan Day" on Aug. 19, which aims to raise awareness about conservation of the animal. The ice cake was crafted by freezing a variety of fruit, including kiwi, orange, banana and grapes with water, in a circular container measuring 16 centimeters in diameter and 9 cm deep. According to the Choshi Local Meteorological Office, the city of Abiko recorded the highest temperature in Chiba Prefecture at 34.9 degrees Celsius on Aug. 17, while the city of Funabashi, adjacent to Ichikawa, recorded 33.7 C. Ichikawa City Zoo was also affected by the heat. When a zookeeper brought the ice cake on a plate to the outdoor enclosure, Popo showed great interest and cooled off by nibbling on it bit by bit. Visitors captured Popo's actions using their smartphone cameras. Atsuko Fujioka, 46, a resident of Ichikawa who visited the zoo with her family, commented, "It was adorable to see her eating up close. It must be hot for Orangutans too, so this is a wonderful initiative." To help animals cope with the heat, the zoo has created shaded areas with sheets and waters outdoor spaces with sprinklers. Orangutans are given small fruit-filled ice treats as snacks. Zookeeper Hiroko Mizushina, 53, stated, "Popo gets excited when she receives something new. We want her to cool down and be comfortable even in hot weather." (Japanese original by Honami Hayashi, Chiba Bureau)
