Economic Dimensions of the Problem of Invasive Species1

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A&M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean With the events of September 11, 2001, the anthrax mail attacks, and the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security, many individuals have become aware of the threat of biological weapons directed towards people. However, few realize how vulnerable the U.S. agricultural infrastructure is to pests and disease outbreaks resulting from accidental or deliberate introductions of invasive species. Over the past 200 years or so, more than 50,000 foreign plant and animal species have become established in the United States. About one in seven has become invasive, with damage and control costs estimated at more than $138 billion each year (USDA/APHIS, 2001). An “invasive species” is defined as a species that is non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. (Exec. Order No. 13112, 1999). Invasive species can be plants, animals, and other organisms (e.g., microbes). The problem of invasive species has intensified within the last few years, making it a serious challenge to globalized trade. As a story in The Economist put it: “Animals, plants, and microbes can now migrate across the planet to new homes with unprecedented ease” (2000).