Novel Organisms: Comparing Invasive Species, GMOs, and Emerging Pathogens
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Novel Organisms: Comparing Invasive Species, GMOs, and Emerging Pathogens Jonathan M. Jeschke, Felicia Keesing, Richard S. Ostfeld
Received: 19 October 2012 / Revised: 5 December 2012 / Accepted: 7 February 2013 / Published online: 3 March 2013
Abstract Invasive species, range-expanding species, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), synthetic organisms, and emerging pathogens increasingly affect the human environment. We propose a framework that allows comparison of consecutive stages that such novel organisms go through. The framework provides a common terminology for novel organisms, facilitating knowledge exchange among researchers, managers, and policy makers that work on, or have to make effective decisions about, novel organisms. The framework also indicates that knowledge about the causes and consequences of stage transitions for the better studied novel organisms, such as invasive species, can be transferred to more poorly studied ones, such as GMOs and emerging pathogens. Finally, the framework advances understanding of how climate change can affect the establishment, spread, and impacts of novel organisms, and how biodiversity affects, and is affected by, novel organisms. Keywords Biological invasions Ecological novelty Emerging diseases Genetically modified organisms Range-expanding species Synthetic organisms
INTRODUCTION Recent efforts have attempted to integrate research on ‘‘ecological novelty’’ (Kueffer et al. 2011), ‘‘novel ecosystems’’ (Hobbs et al. 2009), and ‘‘novel organisms’’, where the latter are organisms that are either novel anywhere [genetically modified organisms (GMOs), synthetic organisms, some emerging pathogens] or novel in a given environment (invasive non-native species, range-expanding species). Novel organisms are an important part of global change and increasingly affect the human environment. In Europe, for instance, there are over 10,000 non-native
species, many of which are known to have an ecological or economic impact, e.g., the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis), insects such as the thrips Frankliniella occidentalis and Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis, or the Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) (Vila` et al. 2010). Kettunen et al. (2008) estimated that total costs caused by invasive species in Europe probably exceed €20 billion per year. Novel organisms have largely been studied in isolation, e.g., invasion biologists have focused on invasive species, and disease ecologists have focused on emerging pathogens. Integrating research on novel organisms promises to reveal previously overlooked similarities between such organisms, and it facilitates exchanges of knowledge, ideas, and research methods among researchers, managers, and policy makers working on different novel organisms. We aim to advance this integration by providing a framework that illustrates similarities among novel organisms (Fig. 1). We suggest that an integrated understanding of novel organisms will allow for improved monitoring, evaluation, and management of novel organisms. Th
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