articleNature CommunicationsFeb 15, 2017GOLD OA

No saturation in the accumulation of alien species worldwide

HSHanno SeebensTMTim M. BlackburnEEEllie E. DyerPGPiero GenovesiPEPhilip E. Hulme

University of Vienna · Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg · +48 more institutions

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Abstract

Although research on human-mediated exchanges of species has substantially intensified during the last centuries, we know surprisingly little about temporal dynamics of alien species accumulations across regions and taxa. Using a novel database of 45,813 first records of 16,926 established alien species, we show that the annual rate of first records worldwide has increased during the last 200 years, with 37% of all first records reported most recently (1970-2014). Inter-continental and inter-taxonomic variation can be largely attributed to the diaspora of European settlers in the nineteenth century and to the acceleration in trade in the twentieth century. For all taxonomic groups, the increase in numbers of…

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Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Alien
  • Taxon
  • Alien species
  • Geography
  • Ecology
  • Introduced species
  • Biology
  • Demography
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