BioInvasion Overview
Animals Diseases Insects Ocean Plants
- Over 50,000 non-native species cause over $120 billion dollars of damage, per year, in the United States More than 120,000 species have invaded the USA, UK, Australia, India, South Africa and Brazil
- Invaders include viruses and bacteria such as tuberculosis, AIDS, flu, cholera, hepatitis, etc.
- Invasive species are second only to human population growth in causing a loss of biodiversity, responsible for about 42% of the decline in endangered and threatened native species in the USA.
- Of course, not all species are harmful, and 98% of our food supply comes from non-native species like corn, wheat, cattle, and poultry.
- Roughly 25% of the 120,000 introduced species cause damage.
Source: Pimentel, David. 2002. Biological Invasions: Economic and Environmental Costs of Alien Plant, Animal, and Microbe Species. CRC Press
March 2016. Tiny water flea, big cost: Scientists say invasive species impacts much worse than thought.
July 2015. Boosting nutrients gives a leg up to invasive species
March 2012. Invasive species cost the Great Lakes millions: New paper assigns dollar figure to effects of shipborne invaders.
The world’s 100 worst invasive species
Invasive species in the United States
Annual economic costs of some introduced species in the USA. David Pimentel, Lori Lach, Rodolfo Zuniga and Doug Morrison, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
Weeds in crops $29,000,000,000
Diseases in crops 23,500,000,000
Rats 19,000,000,000
Insects in crops 14,500,000,000
Weeds in forages, gardens, etc. 6,500,000,000
Human diseases 6,500,000,000
Cats 6,000,000,000
Plant diseases in gardens 3,000,000,000
Zebra mussels 3,000,000,000
Insects in gardens 2,500,000,000
Insects in forests 2,100,000,000
Birds 2,100,000,000
Asiatic clam 1,000,000,000
Fishes 1,000,000,000
Other plants 250,000,000
Pigs 200,000,000
Dogs 136,000,000
Elm disease 100,000,000
Mongoose 50,000,000
Green crab 44,000,000
Gypsy moth 22,000,000
Fire ants 10,000,000
Horses and burros 5,000,000
Reptiles and amphibians 604,000