Diversity, biogeography and the global flows of alien amphibians and reptiles
Open accessAbstract
Aim: We introduce a high‐quality global database of established alien amphibians and reptiles. We use this data set to analyse: (1) the global distribution; (2) the temporal dynamics; (3) the flows between native and alien ranges; and (4) the key drivers of established alien amphibians and reptiles. Location: Worldwide. Methods: We collected geographical records of established amphibians and reptiles from a thorough search across a wide number of sources. We supplemented these data with year of first record, when available. We used descriptive statistics and data visualization techniques to analyse taxonomic, spatial and temporal patterns in establishment records and the global flows of alien species. We used generalized linear mixed models to relate spatial variation in the number of established species richness with variables describing geographical, environmental and human factors. Results: Our database covers 86% of the terrestrial area of the world. We identified 78 alien amphibian and 198 alien reptile species established in at least one of our 359 study regions. These figures represent about 1.0% of the extant global amphibian and 1.9% of the extant global reptile species richness. The flows of amphibians were dominated by exchanges between and within North and South America, and within Europe (59% of all links). For reptiles, the network of global flows of established alien species was much more diverse, with every continental region being both a donor and a recipient of similar importance. The number of established alien amphibians and reptiles has grown slowly until 1950 and strongly increased thereafter. Our generalized linear mixed models revealed that insularity, climatic conditions, and socio‐economic development significantly influenced the distributional patterns for both groups. Main conclusions: We conclude that biological invasions by alien amphibians and reptiles are a rapidly accelerating phenomenon, particularly on islands with heterogeneous climates of economically highly developed countries.
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A global study of other vertebrate groups documented 78 alien amphibian species and 198 alien reptile species established in at least one of the 359 world regions considered.
“A global study of other vertebrate groups documented 78 and 198 alien amphibian and reptile species, respectively, established in at least one of the 359 world regions considered; invasions of herptiles are accelerating rapidly, particularly on islands (Capinha et al., 2017).”
From Scientists' warning on invasive alien species (2020) · cites this paper as Capinha et al., 2017
Invasions of herptiles are accelerating rapidly, particularly on islands.
“A global study of other vertebrate groups documented 78 and 198 alien amphibian and reptile species, respectively, established in at least one of the 359 world regions considered; invasions of herptiles are accelerating rapidly, particularly on islands (Capinha et al., 2017).”
From Scientists' warning on invasive alien species (2020) · cites this paper as Capinha et al., 2017
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Cites
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Cited by
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Scientists' warning on invasive alien species
Pyšek, P., Hulme, P. E., Simberloff, D., Bacher, S., Blackburn, T. M., Carlton, J. T., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Foxcroft, L. C., Genovesi, P., et al. (2020) · Biological Reviews · doi:10.1111/brv.12627 · Cited by 2,234 · see citing works
Self-citationModels of alien species richness show moderate predictive accuracy and poor transferability
Capinha, C., Essl, F., Seebens, H., Pereira, H. M., & Kühn, I. (2018) · NeoBiota · doi:10.3897/neobiota.38.23518 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Capinha, C., Seebens, H., Cassey, P., García‐Díaz, P., Lenzner, B., Mang, T., Moser, D., Pyšek, P., Rödder, D., Scalera, R., Winter, M., Dullinger, S., & Essl, F.
- Affiliations
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- Charles University (CZ)
- Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (DE)
- IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group Rome Italy
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Essl, Franz
- ORCID
- Venue
- Diversity and Distributions
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-09-08
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1313-1322
- ISSN
- 0967-9952 (ISSN-L)
- 1366-9516
- 1472-4642
- OpenAlex
- W2751595017
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 6
- FWCI
- 8.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Diversity and Distributions (publishedVersion)
- SUNScholar (Stellenbosch University) (submittedVersion)
- ASEP (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BPD/84422/2012, GHTM—UID/Multi/04413/2013)
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SE 1891/2‐1)
- Akademie Věd České Republiky
- Division of Arctic Sciences (DP140102319)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecological Modeling › Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Keywords
- biological invasions, species establishment, biogeography, species richness, insularity, socio-economic development, climatic conditions
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