Invasive insects cause US$77 billion of damage annually – and that will rise due to climate change
Researchers looked at the impact of non-native species on goods and services, health care and agricultural output
Invasive insects cause at least US$77 billion in damage every year, according to a study released Tuesday that says this figure is “grossly underestimated” because it covers only a fraction of the globe.
Climate change is on track to boost the area affected by nearly 20 per cent before mid-century, the authors reported in the journal Nature Communications.
Canvassing more than 700 recent scientific studies, researchers looked at the impact of non-native species on goods and services, health care and agricultural output.
Most of these studies applied to North America and Europe, which means the devastation wrought by crop-chomping and disease-carrying bugs from afar has not been adequately measured, the authors said.
The distribution of many invasive species is today limited by temperature barriers, and climate change could allow them to invade regions that were inhospitable
The most destructive of the insects canvassed was the Formosan subterranean termite, which lives in huge colonies and feasts on wooden structures and living trees.
