Abstract
The Tens Rule, as well as the last stage described therein, i.e., the proportion of established species that becomes pests, is frequently perceived by the scientific community to indicate that introduced established species have little impact on communities. This belief is dangerous because it strengthens the perspective of the general public and decision makers that the risks of species introductions are largely overestimated. It is often difficult to detect the actual negative impact of an introduced established species. It might be less apparent or indirect; it might be delayed or masked by the “noise” caused by other anthropogenic disturbances. It is also likely that numerous ecological interactions are still not detected or properly understood. Therefore, the ten-percent rule might be more of an indicator of our lack of understanding of the impacts that established introduced species produce than the actual ratio of such species that produces negative impacts. In such a state of affairs, adopting the precautionary principle is crucial. The scientific community must be much more cautious and responsible regarding the message it delivers to the general public and management authorities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Campbell JE, Gibson DJ (2001) The effect of seeds of exotic species transported via horse dung on vegetation along trail corridors. Plant Ecology 157:23–35
Carlton JT (2003) Community assembly and historical biogeography in the North Atlantic Ocean: the potential role of human-mediated dispersal vectors. Hydrobiologia 503:1–8
Clavero M, García-Berthou E (2005) Invasive species are a leading cause of animal extinctions. Trends in Ecololgy & Evolution 20(3):110
Copp GH, Bianco PG, Bogutskaya NG, Erős T, Falka I, Ferreira MT et al (2005) To be, or not to be, a non-native freshwater fish? Journal of Applied Ichthyology 21:242–262
Crooks JA, Soulé ME (1999) Lag times in population explosions of invasive species: causes and implications. In: Sandlund OT et al (eds) Invasive species and biodiversity management. Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, pp 103–125
Daehler CC (2001) Two ways to be an invader, but one is more suitable for ecology. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 82:101–102
Davis MA, Thompson K (2000) Eight ways to be a colonizer; two ways to be an invader: a proposed nomenclature for invasion ecology. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 81:226–230
Davis MA, Thompson K (2001) Invasion terminology: should ecologists define their terms differently than others? No, not if we want to be of any help! Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 82:2–6
García-Berthou E (2007) The characteristics of invasive fishes: what has been learned so far? Journal of Fish Biology 71(Suppl D):33–55
Gozlan RE (2008) Introduction of non-native freshwater fish: is it all bad? Fish and Fisheries 9:106–115
Gozlan RE (2009) [Response by Gozlan R] Biodiversity crisis and the introduction of non-native fish: Solutions, not scapegoats. Fish and Fisheries 10:109–110
Jeschke JM, Strayer DL (2005) Invasion success of vertebrates in Europe and North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102(20):7198–7202
Lapointe NWR, Pendleton RM, Angermeier PL (2012) A comparison of approaches for estimating relative impacts of nonnative fishes. Environmental Management 49:82–95
Leprieur F, Brosse S, García-Berthou E, Oberdorff T, Olden JD, Townsend CR (2009) Scientific uncertainty and the assessment of risks posed by non-native freshwater fishes. Fish and Fisheries 10:88–97
Ludsin SA, Wolfe AD (2001) Biological invasion theory: Darwin’s contributions from The Origin of Species. Bioscience 51(9):780–789
National Research Council (2002) Predicting invasions of nonindigenous plants and plant pests. Committee on the Scientific Basis for Predicting the Invasive Potential of Nonindigenous Plants and Plant Pests in the United States, National Research Council. The National Academies Press, Washington DC
Qiu H, Chen YF (2009) Bibliometric analysis of biological invasions research during the period of 1991 to 2007. Scientometrics 81:601–610
Simberloff D et al (2011) Non-natives: 141 scientist object. Nature 475(7345):36
Vitule JRS, Freire CA, Simberloff D (2009) Introduction of non-native freshwater fish can certainly be bad. Fish and Fisheries 10:98–108
Williamson MH, Brown KC (1986) The analysis and modelling of British invasions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 314:505–522
Williamson M, Fitter A (1996) The varying success of invaders. Ecology 77(6):1661–1666
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the support by Project No. 173045 funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic Serbia. The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for providing helpful comments and suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jarić, I., Cvijanović, G. The Tens Rule in Invasion Biology: Measure of a True Impact or Our Lack of Knowledge and Understanding?. Environmental Management 50, 979–981 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9951-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9951-1