The European partners in the BiodivERsA
network have already joined important efforts to organize and fund a
pan-European call for research projects on invasive alien species (IAS) and
biological invasions in the past. For example, within the 2008 joint
call the BiodivERsA partners had funded the project RACE - Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European Amphibian Biodiversity. This project focuses on
Chytridiomycosis, an amphibian disease responsible of causing
die-offs and even extinctions of many amphibian populations around
the world. The disease is caused by Batrachochytrium
dendrobatidis (also called Bd for short), a fungus that for this reason is also considered one of the 100 World’s Worst Invasive Alien Species
by the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. In this context
RACE aims at assessing the risk that Bd poses to European amphibians
and at developing tools and protocols to enable surveillance of Bd
across Europe. RACE also aims at improving the understanding where in
situ mitigation and captive-breeding conservation efforts are most
necessary to preserve European amphibian biodiversity. The findings
should then be formalised into a European Threat Abatement Plan
(ETAP).
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| African clawed frogs, a potential vector of Bd. Photo © Riccardo Scalera |
Many research projects focusing on
invasive alien species have been financed so far in Europe under the
auspices of the various Framework Programmes (a scheme which also
BiodivERsA belongs to). For example, according to the result of a
specific study published on Biological Invasion journal, focusing on the period 1994-2006, the
EC has funded a total of 90 research projects dealing with IAS, for a
total budget of more than 88 million euro. Of these, 70 projects
focused entirely on IAS and the other 20 had only a part of the
activities related to this issue. That is a very important
contribution to face the threat of biological invasions despite the
lack of either a specific strategy or a dedicated financial
instrument in the EU. Beside, this response complies with the priorities of
the Sixth Environment Action Programme of the European Community for
2002-2012, and shows that concrete steps are being undertaken in the
right direction to support the European Commission’s policy
according to which IAS are recognised as a key pressure on
biodiversity and a priority for action.
