ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we provide an overview of the impacts of alien terrestrial vertebrates in Europe. We focus primarily on mammals and birds but also provide a brief overview
7.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 177 7.2 Mammal introductions ..................................................................................................... 178
7.2.1 Alien mammal impacts in Europe ...................................................................... 178 7.2.2 Biodiversity impacts .............................................................................................. 179 7.2.3 Economic impacts .................................................................................................. 180 7.2.4 Eradications of alien mammals in Europe ......................................................... 181 7.2.5 Future predicted impacts and management of alien mammals ..................... 181
7.3 Introductions of birds, reptiles, and amphibians .......................................................... 182 7.3.1 Impacts of birds ...................................................................................................... 183
7.3.1.1 Biodiversity impacts ............................................................................... 184 7.3.1.2 Economic and human health impacts .................................................. 185 7.3.1.3 Eradications of alien birds in Europe ................................................... 185 7.3.1.4 Future predicted impacts and management of alien birds .............. 186
7.3.2 Impacts of reptiles and amphibians .................................................................... 187 7.4 Prioritizing alien invasive birds-how do we decide which are
the worst of the worst? ...................................................................................................... 188 7.4.1 Quantifying impacts ............................................................................................. 188 7.4.2 Impact scores .......................................................................................................... 189 7.4.3 Interpreting the ranking procedure and further issues................................... 190
7.5 Concluding remarks .......................................................................................................... 195 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... 195 References ..................................................................................................................................... 195
of impacts of reptiles and amphibians. We begin with a general overview of introductions and impacts for each taxa group followed by a more detailed discussion of some of the species with the most important impacts on biodiversity and economic resources. We then highlight eradication efforts and future management of impacts. Finally, we propose a simple procedure to rank impacts of alien vertebrates, using alien birds as a case study.
