Multinational initiative provides guidelines to mitigate impacts of invasive species

Invasive alien species cause negative environmental, social and economic impacts. One example, among many, is the brachiaria grass – of African origin and introduced in Brazil to form pastures for cattle raising –, which has become a major threat to the survival of native species and biodiversity at various spatial scales.

The complete eradication of invasive alien species is often unfeasible. And attempts in this direction have already produced unwanted and even harmful results, because the simple removal of the invasive alien species does not restore the environment – ​​as, for example, in Cerrado areas invaded by pine trees. Therefore, considering that invasive alien species that cannot be eradicated need to be managed continuously, researchers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom defined the strategic axes for a policy in this regard, focusing on mitigating impacts, rather than eliminating them. of the species.

The resulting project, which was named CONTAIN (“contain” in English), emerged from a call for proposals launched in 2018 through a cooperation agreement between FAPESP; the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Newton Fund (NF), from the United Kingdom; the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet), from Argentina; the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Conicyt), of Chile; and the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (Concytec), of Peru.

The initiative seeks to establish and develop management tools that allow optimizing the control of invasive alien species over medium and long-term horizons. The participation of the Brazilian group, based at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), is coordinated by Alessandra Fidelis, professor at the Biosciences Institute, on the Rio Claro campus.

A study prepared by CONTAIN members was published in the journal BioScience. The work was supported by FAPESP through the project “Use of adaptive management in optimizing the long-term management of invasive species harmful to biodiversity and rural economy”, led by Fidelis.

“Our study sought to contemplate not only the invasions themselves, but also to outline guidelines for interaction with managers, with the aim of containing the proliferation of species and mitigating their impacts”, says the researcher to Agência FAPESP.

The study used the definition of invasive alien species as those that “successfully pass through the three initial stages of invasion [transport, introduction and establishment] and, subsequently, establish multiple self-sustaining populations, composed of individuals that reproduce, survive and disperse, in a landscape beyond its native range.” And he indicated that a subset of them “produces a range of negative environmental, social and economic impacts at various spatial scales”.

In this vast subset, the following invasive exotic species were focused on: in Brazil, brachiaria and other grasses of African origin (introduced for the planting of pastures intended to feed cattle herds) and trees of the genus Pinus (introduced from the northern hemisphere to the pulp and resin production); in Argentina, the North American mammal mink (also called mink and introduced for fur production) and trees of the genera Pinus and Ligustrum (of Asian origin and used in afforestation); in Chile, the pine, the mink and the yellow jacket wasp (of Asian origin).

“We defined six planning criteria to mitigate impacts. The first three constitute a detailed survey of the situation: mapping the presence of the invasive alien species in the region and its spatial distribution; investigate how long this invader has been present; evaluate what we know about the impacts caused by it”, says Fidelis.

And it continues. “The following three criteria concern the response we can give to this situation: what types of interventions are feasible, from a technical, social and economic point of view; what negative consequences these interventions may have; take stock of the costs and benefits of interventions and consequences."

The current pandemic has already highlighted with clear clarity the risks that the degradation of natural environments can cause. And the urgency of adopting control and mitigation policies well-based on scientific knowledge. “In the case of the species focused on in our study, we have an additional reason, and a very strong reason, to implement these policies, as it was discovered that mink transmits the new coronavirus”, comments Fidelis.

Evidently, all of this will only be effective if the knowledge generated in universities and research institutes overflows the academic environment and is embraced by society, especially by public and private managers.

Links

• Management policies for invasive alien species: addressing the impacts rather than the species

• Use of adaptive management to optimize the long-term management of invasive species harmful to biodiversity and the rural economy

• CONTAIN