Limited global awareness of invasive alien species and little support for their management
Abstract
Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the main drivers of global change and can cause a wide range of negative ecological and social impacts. Addressing these impacts requires management actions, which can fail to be effective when not supported by the public. Here, we conducted the first global survey on people's awareness and perceptions of IAS and support for their management. Our results revealed low public awareness and understanding of biological invasions, and suggest that these are mainly influenced by people's sociodemographic status rather than the social-ecological contexts. Greater awareness of IAS was associated with more negative perceptions toward them and greater support for their management. A large majority of people did not support the use of most management measures. These results suggest that limited public awareness may represent a major obstacle to successfully managing IAS globally, highlighting the need for broader public communication, outreach, and engagement.
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BibTeX
@article{novoa2026limited,
title = {{Limited global awareness of invasive alien species and little support for their management}},
author = {Ana Novoa and Ross Shackleton and Sven Bacher and Pavel Pipek and Ratcha Chaichana and Ali El-Keblawy and Bella Galil and Margherita Gioria and Marina Golivets and Tina D'Hertefeldt and Makihiko Ikegami and Ivan Jarić and Christian A. Kull and Nitya P. Mohanty and Zarah Pattison and Aníbal Pauchard and Jan Pergl and Cristina Preda and Klára Pyšková and Jonatan Rodríguez and Kateřina Štajerová and Thi Hai van Nguyen and Ayşe Yazlık and Rafael D. Zenni and Petr Pyšek},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.117811},
url = {https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03192-5},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Limited global awareness of invasive alien species and little support for their management
AU - Ana Novoa
AU - Ross Shackleton
AU - Sven Bacher
AU - Pavel Pipek
AU - Ratcha Chaichana
AU - Ali El-Keblawy
AU - Bella Galil
AU - Margherita Gioria
AU - Marina Golivets
AU - Tina D'Hertefeldt
AU - Makihiko Ikegami
AU - Ivan Jarić
AU - Christian A. Kull
AU - Nitya P. Mohanty
AU - Zarah Pattison
AU - Aníbal Pauchard
AU - Jan Pergl
AU - Cristina Preda
AU - Klára Pyšková
AU - Jonatan Rodríguez
AU - Kateřina Štajerová
AU - Thi Hai van Nguyen
AU - Ayşe Yazlık
AU - Rafael D. Zenni
AU - Petr Pyšek
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - iScience
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117811
UR - https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03192-5
AB - Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the main drivers of global change and can cause a wide range of negative ecological and social impacts. Addressing these impacts requires management actions, which can fail to be effective when not supported by the public. Here, we conducted the first global survey on people's awareness and perceptions of IAS and support for their management. Our results revealed low public awareness and understanding of biological invasions, and suggest that these are mainly influenced by people's sociodemographic status rather than the social-ecological contexts. Greater awareness of IAS was associated with more negative perceptions toward them and greater support for their management. A large majority of people did not support the use of most management measures. These results suggest that limited public awareness may represent a major obstacle to successfully managing IAS globally, highlighting the need for broader public communication, outreach, and engagement.
SN - 2589-0042
ER -