As invasions slow down, biosecurity must move inward
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Rates of non-native-species first records and establishment are slowing. This is encouraging, but it changes rather than resolves the biosecurity problem imposed by biological invasions. As external establishments decline while national non-native-species pools remain compositionally distinct, a growing share of remaining invasion opportunity should lie in redistribution among connected jurisdictions and subsequent within-country spread. Free-trade regions are particularly susceptible because internal movement is intense, whereas biosecurity remains concentrated at external borders. Simultaneously, deglobalization and consequent reshoring and economic regionalisation are reorganising trade towards shorter and more spatially concentrated transport corridors. We argue that this creates a timely policy opportunity: maintain external prevention while extending biosecurity systematically to intra-regional pathways and within-country spread. Successful prevention should make biosecurity move inward, not retreat.
DOI: 10.32942/x2gt20
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213952812