Invasive plant and animal species caused damage of more than 116 billion euros in Europe between 1960 and 2020.
This has been calculated by an international team of researchers, which also includes Senckenberg scientists from Frankfurt.
For Germany alone, costs of a good eight billion euros were determined.
Five species are considered to be particularly “expensive”: the brown rat, the wild rabbit, the Asian jeweled ash beetle, the flatworm species Gyrodactylus salaris and the sagebrush ragweed.
"The brown rat alone has owed costs of around 5.5 billion euros in Europe within 60 years," says Phillip Haubrock from the Senckenberg branch in Gelnhausen.
Sascha Zoske
Journalist in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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The calculations are based on the InvaCost database, which assesses economic damage caused by alien species.
The alien species were introduced through tourism, trade and traffic;
Climate change also promotes the spread.
Germany is particularly affected because of its central location, said Haubrock.
As he and his colleagues found, the damage increased tenfold with every decade of the study period.
Presumably the costs are still set too low.
Some species such as the North American raccoon, which has been proven to cause damage in Germany, are not even included in the calculation.
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