Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Invasion biology

Colonialism shaped today’s biodiversity

The effects of the redistribution of flora and fauna by European empires are still visible in global biodiversity today and can be traced through the distribution of introduced species. Attempts to solve today’s biodiversity crisis necessitates grappling these colonial legacies head on.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Introduced species can sometimes be beneficial in restoring ecological functions.

References

  1. IPCC Climate Change 2022: Summary for Policymakers. (eds Pörtner, H. et al.) (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022).

  2. Lewis, S. L. & Maslin, M. A. The human planet: How we created the Anthropocene. (Yale University Press, 2018).

  3. Lenzner, B. et al. Nat. Ecol. Evol. https://doi.org/s41559-022-01865-1 (2022).

  4. van Kleunen, M. et al. Nature 525, 100–103 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Dawson, W. et al. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 1, 0186 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dyer, E. E. et al. PLoS Biol. 15, e2000942 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Mohammed, R. S. et al. Am. Nat. 200, 140–155 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Rodrigues, A. S. L. et al. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 374, 20190220 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Reddin, C. J., Aberhan, M., Raja, N. B. & Kocsis, Á. T. Glob. Change Biol. 28, 5793–5807 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Elton, C. S. The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. (University of Chicago Press, 1958).

  11. Goode, E. Invasive Species Aren’t Always Unwanted. The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/science/invasive-species.html (2016).

  12. Reo, N. J. & Ogden, L. A. Sustain. Sci. 13, 1443–1452 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Simberloff, D. Nature 475, 36 (2011).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nussaïbah B. Raja.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Raja, N.B. Colonialism shaped today’s biodiversity. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 1597–1598 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01903-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01903-y

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing