Understanding and managing the Impacts of INVASIve alien species on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services – InvasiBES

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are among the most significant drivers of species extinction and ecosystem degradation, causing negative impacts on ecosystem services and human well-being. Using data and models across scales, habitats and species, the overall objective of InvasiBES is to understand and anticipate the multi-faceted impacts of IAS and to provide tools for their management. This will be achieved through five inter-related work-packages. WP 1 will design three future intervention scenarios focused on prevention, control and eradication of IAS in Europe and the US, through a participatory process bringing together the expertise of scientists and stakeholders. WP 2 will adapt current impact assessment protocols (EICAT and SEICAT) to consider both the detrimental and beneficial impacts of IAS on biodiversity and ecosystem services. WP 3 will combine this information with maps of the potential distribution of 100 of the worst IAS in Europe under current and future climate change scenarios. WP 4 will replicate activities in WP 3 for 100 range-shifting invasive plants in the US. Models and maps in WP 3 and 4 will serve to evaluate the costs and benefits in terms of ecosystem services of alternative IAS intervention scenarios developed in WP 1. Focusing on three local scale studies that cover a range of habitats (freshwater, terrestrial and marine), invasive species (plants and animals) and ecosystem services (supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural), WP5 will use empirical field and experimental data to quantify the real-world impacts of IAS on biodiversity and ecosystem services and explore the recovery of ecosystems after the invader is removed. Spatial planning tools (InVEST) will be used to evaluate the costs and benefits of intervention scenarios at the local scale. The multi-disciplinary combination of methods and approaches proposed in InvasiBES provides unique opportunities to develop scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services that are relevant to underpin management of IAS at multiple scales.