A study in ‘Nature’ has found the economic burden of invasive species is 1646 per cent higher than previously recorded, with an average cost of $US53 billion a year.
Cane toads are an invasive species that have devastated native wildlife as they continue their march across Australia.
An 8.5-millimetre striped beetle. A 4-millimetre mosquito. A 25-millimetre hornet. These critters are tiny, but they pack a mighty punch when it comes to economic costs. The damage these organisms and their ilk are inflicting on regions around the world puts invasive alien species – non-native flora and fauna that harm the environments they’re introduced to – in the same league as extreme weather.
A paper published recently in the journal Nature found that the economic burden of invasive species is 1646 per cent higher than previously recorded.
