The Doñana Biological Station – CSIC has shown the reliability of assessments of alien species impacts, which help prioritize resources against one of the current and future challenges of humankind.

These assessments based on responses by experts are susceptible of high subjectivity and it was essential to test their utility in assisting in the management of alien invasive species.

An international scientific team led by the CSIC cuantifies the effects of the invasion of these insects in agriculture and public health
This work takes data from Invacost, the first database that compiles economic costs associated with biological invasions worldwide.

The role that apex predators play in ecosystem functioning, disease regulation and biodiversity maintenance is increasingly debated. However, the positive impacts of their presence in terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in human-dominated landscapes, remain controversial. Limited experimental insights regarding the consequences of apex predator recoveries may be behind such controversy and may also impact on the social acceptability towards the recovery of these species.

Many alien taxa are known to cause socio-economic impacts by affecting the different constituents of human well-being (security; material and immaterial assets; health; social, spiritual and cultural relations; freedom of choice and action). Attempts to quantify socio-economic impacts in monetary terms are unlikely to provide a useful basis for evaluating and comparing impacts of alien taxa because they are notoriously difficult to measure and important aspects of human well-being are...

Alien species can exert negative environmental and socio-economic impacts. Often it is not clear which of the numerous alien species are most important in terms of damage, and therefore, impact scoring systems have been developed to allow a comparison and thus prioritization of species. Here, the Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) is presented, which relies on published evidence of environmental and socio-economic impact of alien species.