Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
Invasive Plants: Their Role in Species
Extinctions and Economic Losses
to Agriculture in the USA
David Pimentel
Abstract
The more than 50,000 species of plants, animals, and microbes intro-
duced into the United States cause more extinction of native species than most any
other threats and cause more than $120 billion in damages and control costs each
year. An assessment of the invasive plants that have been introduced and their con-
trol and damage costs will be estimated.
Keywords
Economic losses European purple loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria
Bog
turtle Yellow star thistle
Centaurea solstitialis
European cheatgrass
Bromus tectorum
Exotic aquatic weeds
Hydrilla verticillata Pistia stratiotes
Eurasian watermilfoil
Myriophyllum spicatum
Yellow rocket
Barberia vulgaris
Canada thistle
Cirsium
arvense
US Crop losses
1.1 Introduction
There are approximately 50,000 nonnative species in the United States, including
plants, animals, and microbes (Pimentel et al. 2000). Some of these species are
beneficial and include our introduced food crops and livestock species, and these
species make up about 99% of agriculture. The value of US agriculture is more than
$800 billion per year (USCB 2007).
However, there are many species of plants, animals, and microbes that have
caused major economic and environmental damages to agriculture and other
aspects of the US ecosystem. We have reported about $120 billion per year in envi-
ronmental and public health damages in the USA (Pimentel et al. 2007). Estimating
the full damage and control costs of invasive species is extremely difficult because
D. Pimentel
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
dp18@cornell.edu
