Import volumes and biosecurity interventions shape the arrival rate of fungal pathogens

Abstract

Global trade and the movement of people accelerate biological invasions by spreading species worldwide. Biosecurity measures seek to allow trade and passenger movements while preventing incursions that could lead to the establishment of unwanted pests, pathogens, and weeds. However, few data exist to evaluate whether changes in trade volumes, passenger arrivals, and biosecurity measures have altered rates of establishment of nonnative species over time. This is particularly true for pathogens, which pose significant risks to animal and plant health and are consequently a major focus of biosecurity efforts but are difficult to detect. Here, we use a database of all known plant pathogen associations recorded in New Zealand to estimate the rate at which new fungal pathogens arrived and established on 131 economically important plant species over the last 133 years. We show that the annual arrival rate of new fungal pathogens increased from 1880 to about 1980 in parallel with increasing import trade volume but subsequently stabilised despite continued rapid growth in import trade and recent rapid increases in international passenger arrivals. Nevertheless, while pathogen arrival rates for crop and pasture species have declined in recent decades, arrival rates have increased for forestry and fruit tree species. These contrasting trends between production sectors reflect differences in biosecurity effort and suggest that targeted biosecurity can slow pathogen arrival and establishment despite increasing trade and international movement of people.

Stronger regional biosecurity is essential to prevent hundreds of harmful biological invasions

“…Most of the predicted invasions are unlikely to be prevented. Our results, therefore, further support the view that better international policies need to be developed (Ricciardi et al, 2017;Sikes et al, 2018) and that improvements to national-level biosecurity are required (Zenni et al, 2017).…”

“…the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments), and international standards have been set to prevent the transportation of harmful alien species (Brenton-Rule, Barbieri, & Lester, 2016;McGeoch et al, 2010;Turbelin et al, 2017). At a national level, countries have developed legislation that aims to prevent invasions, and have implemented a range of biosecurity interventions (Early et al, 2016;McGeoch et al, 2010;Sikes et al, 2018). However, although both international and national-level responses have increased over time, countries differ with regard to their capacity to prevent invasions, their biosecurity protocols and their implementation of international standards (Bacon, Bacher, & Aebi, 2012;Early et al, 2016;Eschen et al, 2015;McGeoch et al, 2010;Ricciardi et al, 2017;Turbelin et al, 2017).…”

“…Intercountry variation in the implementation of international standards means that alien species can be easily transported to new regions (Ricciardi et al, 2017;Sikes et al, 2018), while at a national level, a low capacity to prevent invasions and poorly developed biosecurity protocols puts a country at risk of new introductions and invasions (Early et al, 2016). However, the risks posed by an alien species will vary between countries (Benedict, Levine, Hawley, & Lounibos, 2007;Thuiller et al, 2005) and, therefore, so too will the incentive to prevent invasions.…”

“…The likelihood of a species being introduced to a new region is often positively related to the prominence of the species' pathways of introduction in that region (Haack, 2001;Levine & D'Antonio, 2003). where the host is imported in small quantities (Sikes et al, 2018).…”

Establishing a base for understanding the threat of the brown marmorated stink bug to plants of value to Māori / E whakarite ana he tūāpapa e mārama ai i ngā kino o te ngārara pīhau parauri ki ngā tipu e whai hua ki te Māori

“…Estimates of economic damage to productive plant systems in Aotearoa/New Zealand from established invasive species are large (Goldson et al 2015) but with environmental, social and cultural impacts mostly unmeasured (Brockerhoff et al 2010). However, New Zealand continues to be at risk from a range of invasive alien species and their undesirable impact on valued plant species in both the productive sector and the natural estate (Edney-Browne et al 2018;Sikes et al 2018).…”