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Invasive species cost China $14B per year mongabay.com April 1, 2008
Comparing trade and economic with the spread of non-native species, Richard Mack and colleagues show that "China's economic boom has been paralleled by a boom in biological invasions," according to a statement from Washington State University. Over the past three decades the number of invasive species in the country has more than tripled while the number of international ports of entry to China has doubled and the total length of express highways has expanded by a factor of 40. The authors say China's waterways have served as a conduit for the spread of alien species, but government efforts to ready Beijing for the Olympics are also facilitating the influx of biological invaders.
The authors say that visitors will inadvertently bring foreign species to China. "The most likely way that any of these organisms are going to come in is in a resting stage—eggs, seeds, spores," said Mack, a Washington State University ecologist. "That means they're not going to be prominent at all when they first come in. So the Chinese will need to be alert with follow-up inspections.+ The authors recommend a monitoring program for the year following the games to reduce the likelihood than invasive species can establish a foothold in the country. "China's Booming Economy is Sparking and Accelerating Biological Invasions." BioScience vol. 58, pages 317-324.
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