Tuesday, March 21, 2023
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Social & Behavioral Science

Unwelcome guests: International tourism and travel can be a pathway for introducing invasive species

February 2, 2022
in Social & Behavioral Science
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Tourism is an important economic driver of the world’s economy, providing a significant contribution to the income of many countries. However, tourism can also contribute to the introduction and spread of unwanted exotic organisms such as insect pests or weed seeds across countries. These can be harmful to the natural environment and agriculture, causing social, environmental, and economic damage.

International and domestic tourism activity correlates to detection of exotic organisms

Credit: M.R. McNeill

Tourism is an important economic driver of the world’s economy, providing a significant contribution to the income of many countries. However, tourism can also contribute to the introduction and spread of unwanted exotic organisms such as insect pests or weed seeds across countries. These can be harmful to the natural environment and agriculture, causing social, environmental, and economic damage.

Tourists, albeit unwittingly, may help such unwanted organisms spread further and conquer new lands – they can carry them over in their luggage or on their clothes and shoes. In 2011, a study from New Zealand found that, for every gram of soil on the footwear of aircraft passengers arriving from abroad, there were 2.5 plant seeds, 41 roundworms, 0.004 insects and mites, and many microorganisms, such as fungi that could cause plant diseases. Moreover, these organisms were alive, and some of them were known to be biosecurity threats. Importantly, tourism can introduce risk in two directions, namely from the arrival of international travellers and also the return of residents from international travel.

An important question, then, is to what degree they play a role in the spread of exotic organisms. A study, carried out by Dr Andrew Robinson of the Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis at the University of Melbourne and Mark McNeill of AgResearch New Zealand, looks to answer that question.

To do so, the researchers compared data on the interceptions of exotic organisms in New Zealand against accommodation data for international and domestic tourists, factoring for the country’s population distribution. The study, recently published in the open-access journal NeoBiota, covered the period between 2011 and 2017, and the exotic organisms that were detected included insects, spiders, mites, snails, plants, and roundworms. 

Robinson and McNeill found a significant relationship between levels of incursion detection and tourism accommodation records: the number of nights spent in hotels significantly correlated to the detection of exotic pests for that period. Importantly, the study found no significant difference between the effect of international and domestic tourism, proving that even travel within the country can facilitate the spread of exotic species. A significant positive correlation was also found between the detection of exotic organisms and population numbers across different regions. 

“The core take-home message is that within-country tourism movements are significantly correlated to the detection of exotic pests,” the researchers explained. That is, tourists and returning residents bring bugs in, and both are implicated at spreading them once they are in the country. They suggest that biosecurity authorities should continue allocating resources to the management of invasive species and pests that get carried around by tourists and their activities. 

However, they also point to the biosecurity risk posed by other possible pathways for of exotic organisms, such as sea freight. A comparison between the different ways of introduction and dispersal would provide a better understanding of relative risk, they conclude.

 

Original source:

Robinson AP, McNeill MR (2022) Biosecurity and post-arrival pathways in New Zealand: relating alien organism detections to tourism indicators. NeoBiota 71: 51-69. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.71.64618



Journal

NeoBiota

DOI

10.3897/neobiota.71.64618

Article Title

Biosecurity and post-arrival pathways in New Zealand: relating alien organism detections to tourism indicators

Article Publication Date

12-Jan-2022

Tags: guestsinternationalintroducinginvasivepathwayspeciestourismTravelUnwelcome
Share26Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Hitchhiking insect

    Spotted lanternfly spreads by hitching a ride with humans

    70 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • Multi-state study reports COVID-19 mRNA vaccines protective during Omicron BA.4/BA.5 predominanc

    70 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine presents four Next Generation Fellowship Awards at the 2023 ACMG Annual Clinical Genetics Meeting

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • Genomic study of ancient humans sheds light on human evolution on the Tibetan Plateau

    80 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • New study from Japan shows SARS-CoV-2 Omicron XBB.1.5 variant is highly transmissible and infectious

    77 shares
    Share 31 Tweet 19
  • Cyprus’s copper deposits created one of the most important trade hubs in the Bronze Age

    79 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

World’s strongest MRI investigates COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue impacts on the brain

Artificial pancreas developed at UVA improves blood sugar control for kids ages 2-6, study finds

Reactive oxygen impacts carbon cycling in tidal sands

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 205 other subscribers

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2023 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In