Dealing with non-native species: what makes the difference in South America?

Abstract

Non-native species have reached South American ecosystems and may be threatening the exceptional biodiversity of this region. However, people often value and exploit introduced species not knowing that they are non-natives, nor understanding their impacts. In this paper we analyze the trend of scientific research on introduced species in South America and whether a socio-cultural explanation could underlie the results by comparing them with European, North American and Australasian countries. We also controlled for research effort, which could reflect economic inequalities, by analyzing the articles published on introduced species in relation to the total number of articles published on related disciplines.

Facing the broader dimensions of biological invasions

“…As a result, different discourses about invasive species are current in different places. South Americans, for instance, tend to be less concerned about biological invasions than people from Anglophone settler colonies (Speziale et al, 2012). Environmental imaginaries also influence the use of arbitrary thresholds like national borders and historical dates to separate natives from exotics (Head, 2012).…”

Heterotilapia buttikoferi (Hubrecht, 1881) (Perciformes: Cichlidae), an introduced exotic fish in the upper Paraná river basin

“…The number of fish species introduced to the Neotropical region has grown exponentially in the last decades mainly as a result of accidental escapes of captive individuals or translocation with the aim to increase artisanal fishers' income or to improve fisheries (Britton and Orsi 2012, Magalhães and Jacobi 2013, Thomaz et al 2015. Invasive species negatively affect at least 30% the native species (Speziale et al 2012). In this regards, it is important to understand the process of biological invasion in order to define what stage a newly discovered invasion is at.…”

Loss of biodiversity in a conservation unit of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest: the effect of introducing non-native fish species

“…Particularly in continental waters the introductions aiming at sport fishing, biological control and aquiculture are of paramount importance (Agostinho et al, 1994;Vitule et al, 2009;Pelicice et al, 2013). Although introductions are not new, only after 1990 studies aiming at non-native species became frequent (Speziale et al, 2012) and therefore, there are still many gaps about their impacts on the environment (Britton and Orsi, 2012;Vitule and Prodocimo, 2012).…”