A horizon scanning study involving analysis of pathways of spread of invasive non-native species into Scotland. It considers species having the highest likelihood of arrival and establishment and the magnitude of their potential negative impact on biodiversity and ecosystems over the next 10 years.
Invasive non-native species (INNS) are one of the major threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services (Díaz, Settele et al. 2019) and interact with other drivers of biodiversity change including notably climate change and land- or sea-use change (Bonebrake, Guo et al. 2019). The number of non-native species being introduced to new regions around the world is increasing year on year (Seebens, Blackburn et al. 2017). Preventing the arrival and spread of a subset of these non-native species that present the greatest threat, so called INNS, is seen as a priority in the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy[1] and indeed worldwide.
Here we present the outcomes of a short project comprising two main tasks:
i) horizon scanning for INNS that are likely to establish and impact on biodiversity within the next 10 years but are not yet established in Scotland; and
ii) comprehensive analysis of pathways of introduction and spread of new INNS into Scotland.
