Adapting to Invasions in a Changing World: Invasive Species as an Economic Resource

Management and policy decisions regarding biological invasions and other aspects of global change such as the changing climate have the potential to influence one another. Recently, interest in harvest as an invasive species management strategy has surged. Researchers have speculated about the potential positive (e.g. population and impact reduction, economic losses recouped through new profits) and negative (e.g. generation of economic incentives to encourage further introductions) consequences of such management strategies, but few experimental analyses exist despite the fact that real-world 'experiments' in harvesting invasive species continue to accrue. We provide the first comprehensive list of the many ways humankind has adapted to the presence of invasive species through harvest, and we consider trends that emerge from this list. The spectrum types range from collection of feral invasive populations to cultivation of potential invaders as crops, and harvested invasive species serve a variety of purposes ranging from biofuels to foods. We caution that the costs of invasion and benefit from harvest can be difficult to quantify, and this difficulty is compounded by the fact that costs and benefits are often incurred by different stakeholders. Climate and other aspects of global change accompanying invasive species harvest were rarely taken into account, and we recommend that climate effects of invasive species harvest become an explicit consideration of harvest strategies moving forward. Overall, we conclude that ecologists, economists, environmental managers and stakeholders must work together to ensure successful and responsible application of ongoing harvests and inform future efforts.