Identifying hotspots of invasive alien terrestrial vertebrates in Europe to assist transboundary prevention and control.

ABSTRACT: This study aims to identify environmentally suitable areas for 15 of the most harmful invasive alien terrestrial vertebrates (IATV) in Europe in a transparent and replicable way. We used species distribution models and publicly-available data from GBIF to predict environmental suitability and to identify hotspots of IATV accounting for knowledge gaps in their distributions. To deal with the ecological particularities of invasive species, we followed a hierarchical approach to estimate the global climatic suitability for each species and incorporated this information into refined environmental suitability models within Europe. Combined predictions on environmental suitability identified potential areas of IATV concentrations or hotspots. Uncertainty of predictions identified regions requiri

SUBMITTER: Polaina E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7363869 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature