Fusco et al., 2024

When Species Drift Our Terms Must Shift

Fusco, Emily J., Bryan G. Falk, Paul J. Heimowitz, Deah Lieurance, Elliott W. Parsons, Cait M. Rottler, Lindsey L. Thurman, and Annette E. Evans. "The emerging invasive species and climate-change lexicon." Trends in Ecology & Evolution (2024).

Keywords:

Range expansion, Changing biotic interactions (competitiveness), Terminology, Framework

Summary:

As climate changes, both native and nonnative species are likely to shift their ranges, resulting in novel species distributions. In addition, species’ interactions within their ecosystems may also change, increasing or decreasing impacts. However, the terms used to describe species that have undergone these changes, such as “sleeper species” and “range-shifter”, are often applied inconsistently across research, management, and policy contexts. Fusco et al. (2024) present a framework to describe species distribution and impact scenarios in a changing climate. This framework clarifies key terms, highlights where definitions overlap or diverge, and explains how different concepts relate to one another. It also brings to light certain distribution and impact scenarios that currently lack formal terminology but may already be encountered by managers. This framework can be used to develop a shared understanding of the ecological context of species movements and impacts without imposing terminology. The authors also provide real-world scenarios where changing impacts and distributions are relevant for management, and include a decision support tool to help managers decide when clarifying terminology is most necessary. This work can help researchers, managers, and policy makers develop a shared understanding of terms, and make more efficient management and policy decisions as new species distribution and impact cases emerge.

Take Home Points:

• Language shapes how invasive species risks are understood and affect how policy and management are applied under climate change.

• A framework that outlines potential species distribution changes and impacts under climate change can improve alignment between science, management objectives, and policy requirements.

• The degree to which clarifying meaning is context dependent, and managers will need to prioritize where to send resources to make these clarifications.

Management Implications:

• Managers can expect that native, nonnative/established, and invasive species may shift their ranges and/or have different impacts as a result of climate change.

• Fusco et al. (2024) present a framework for describing species origin, impact, and range shifts in Figure 1. 

• Reducing ambiguity in terminology may involve substantial time and financial costs, and the need to do so will be context dependent.

More like this:

• What’s our policy? Include climate change! (NE RISCC Research Summary of Bradley et al., 2023) 

• Searching for Research: Lack of species-specific information on effects of climate change on invasives (Research Summary of Gervais et al., 2020)

This research summary was written by Emily Fusco and edited by Bethany Bradley for NE RISCC.