Université de Fribourg

Understanding uncertainty in the Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (ICAT) assessments

Probert, Anna F. ; Volery, Lara ; Kumschick, Sabrina ; Vimercati, Giovanni ; Bacher, Sven

In: NeoBiota, 2020, vol. 62, p. 387–405

The Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) and the Socio- Economic Impact Classification of Alien Taxa (SEICAT) have been proposed to provide unified methods for classifying alien species according to their magnitude of impacts. EICAT and SEICAT (herein “ICAT” when refered together) were designed to facilitate the comparison between taxa and invasion contexts by using a...

Université de Fribourg

The importance of assessing positive and beneficial impacts of alien species

Vimercati, Giovanni ; Kumschick, Sabrina ; Probert, Anna F. ; Volery, Lara ; Bacher, Sven

In: NeoBiota, 2020, vol. 62, p. 525–545

Extensive literature is available on the diversity and magnitude of impacts that alien species cause on recipient systems. Alien species may decrease or increase attributes of ecosystems (e.g. total biomass or species diversity), thus causing negative and positive environmental impacts. Alien species may also negatively or positively impact attributes linked to local human communities (e.g....

Université de Fribourg

Application of the Socio-Economic Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (SEICAT) to a global assessment of alien bird impacts

Evans, Thomas ; Blackburn, Tim M. ; Jeschke, Jonathan M. ; Probert, Anna F. ; Bacher, Sven

In: NeoBiota, 2020, vol. 62, p. 123–142

We use a recently proposed framework, the Socio-Economic Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (SEICAT) to undertake the first global assessment of the impacts of alien birds on human well-being. A review of the published literature and online resources was undertaken to collate information on the reported socio-economic impacts of 415 bird species with self-sustaining alien populations...

Université de Fribourg

Functional similarity and dissimilarity facilitate alien plant invasiveness along biotic and abiotic gradients in an arid protected area

El-Barougy, Reham F. ; Elgamal, Ibrahim ; Rohr, Rudolf P. ; Probert, Anna F. ; Khedr, Abdel-Hamid A. ; Bacher, Sven

In: Biological Invasions, 2020, vol. 22, no. 6, p. 1997–2016

Two contradictory hypotheses have been put forth to forecast alien invasiveness: being either functionally similar, or dissimilar, to resident natives along environmental gradients. The ‘try-harder’ hypothesis predicts that alien plants will be functionally dissimilar to natives and should thus exhibit exaggerated trait values when compared to natives in respect to resource extraction or...