Abstract
Invasive non-native species (invasive species, henceforth) across all taxonomic groups are spreading globally, with numbers projected to continue growing in the future. It is difficult for governments and managers to handle this issue when the identity of invasive species or the areas of occurrence of biological invasions are not known. Here, we provide an updated list of invasive animals, plants and algae in Brazil that is fully integrated and based on the same criteria and lexicon to define invasive species across all plant and animal taxa and habitats. We list 444 invasive non-native species: 254 animals, 188 plants and 2 algae. Some of the invasive species have been present in Brazil since the beginning of the European colonization in the 1500 s, but the majority of first records in Brazil were made in the last century, with copious first records after the year 2000. The list of invasive species presented here represents the most comprehensive attempt thus far to catalog all invasive non-native species at a continental-scale for a megadiverse country. Brazil has published a national strategy with the objective of improving mechanisms and partnerships for invasive non-native species prevention, early detection and rapid response. We believe that the current list of invasive species will provide technical and scientific support for the implementation of effective measures in the management of biological invasions.
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Acknowledgements
The activities that led to this publication are in the scope of the National Strategy on Invasive Alien Species and were funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through Project 029840—National Strategy for the Conservation of Threatened Species—Pro-Species: All against extinction. The Pro-Species Project is coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment; the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO) is the implementing agency, and WWF-Brazil is the executing agency.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this work are the sole responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Pro-Species Project and the Coordination Council (MMA, Funbio and WWF-Brazil). We are extremely thankful to all researchers and professionals in environmental areas who contributed to the review and validations of the invasive non-native species list. GH thanks Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (Capes)—Finance code 001 and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for supporting his postdoctoral research.
Funding
The activities that led to this publication are in the scope of the National Strategy on Invasive Alien Species and were funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through Project 029840—National Strategy for the Conservation of Threatened Species—Pro-Species: All against extinction. The Pro-Species Project is coordinated by the Ministry of the Environment; the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (FUNBIO) is the implementing agency, and WWF-Brazil is the executing agency.
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (Capes)—Finance code 001 provided scholarships for Gustavo Heringer, Ana Carolina L. de Matos, Marina L. Bueno, and Jonathan W. Almeida.
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation provided a scholarship for Gustavo Heringer.
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RDZ, SRZ, CADR, RBS, PBP, BTPM, CHTS, JRL-J, and TEC contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by RDZ, SRZ, CADR, RBS, PBP, BTPM, GH, ACLDM, MLB, and JWA. Analysis was performed by RDZ and revised by GH. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RDZ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zenni, R.D., Ziller, S.R., da Rosa, C.A. et al. Invasive non-native species in Brazil: an updated overview. Biol Invasions (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03302-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-024-03302-9