Elena Angulo

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Department of Ethology and Biodiversity Conservation

Prescribed burns have recently become a widespread environmental management practice for biodiversity restoration to reduce fuel load, to provide forest fire suppression operational opportunities, to favor plant recruitment or to manage wild species. Prescribed fires were again applied in Doñana National Park (southern Spain) after decades of non-i...

Globalisation has steadily accelerated rates of biological invasions worldwide, leading to widespread environmental perturbations that often translate into rapidly expanding socio-economic costs. Although such monetary costs can be estimated based on the observed effects of invasions, the pathways that lead invasive species to become economically i...

Invasive ants are an escalating global issue, ranging from minor nuisances to significant economic damages. Studies show that these insects frequently invade homes and urban buildings, damaging both natural and artificial structures, including doors, windows, beams, and insulation. Their nesting activities can alter the appearance of greeneries, of...

Biological invasions pose substantial economic threats globally, yet detailed cost assessments for many Global South nations, especially in Africa, remain scarce. This study presents the first comprehensive breakdown of the potential costs of biological invasions in Morocco. We identified 551 invasive alien species, comprising approximately 1.76% o...

Biological invasions are increasingly recognised as a major global change that erodes ecosystems, societal well-being, and economies. However, comprehensive analyses of their economic ramifications are missing for most national economies, despite rapidly escalating costs globally. Türkiye is highly vulnerable to biological invasions owing to its ex...

Las invasiones biológicas, además de tener impactos en la biodiversidad y los ecosistemas de las zonas invadidas, causan costes económicos desorbitados. En España ya se han estimado, como mínimo, un gasto de más de doscientos millones de euros. Aún así, las cifras reales probablemente sean superiores a las que conocemos a día de hoy.

Protecting aquatic ecosystems requires comprehensive understanding and quantification of threats posed by invasive species to inform effective management strategy. In particular, aquatic invasive plants cause profound alterations to aquatic ecosystem composition, structure and productivity, however, monetary cost assessments have lacked at large sc...

The adverse impacts of alien birds are widespread and diverse, and associated with costs due to the damage caused and actions required to manage them. We synthesised global cost data to identify variation across regions, types of impact, and alien bird species. Costs amount to US$3.6 billion, but this is likely a vast underestimate. Costs are low c...

Las hormigas están presentes en prácticamente todos los ecosistemas terrestres y pueden utilizarse como bioindicadores fiables. Ejemplo de ello, es en el caso de la evaluación de la recuperación de las comunidades bióticas tras una perturbación importante. Aquí evaluamos la respuesta de las comunidades de hormigas a un incendio de copa en un bosque...

Biological invasions are a global challenge that has received insufficient attention. Recently available cost syntheses have provided policy and decision makers with reliable and up-to-date information on the economic impacts of biological invasions, aiming to motivate effective management. The resultant InvaCost database is now publicly and freely...

Alien species can be damaging to native biodiversity, human well‐being and the economy. Identifying the complete range of impacts they cause, and the ways that these impacts are connected, may inform the prioritisation of management actions to mitigate impacts. Using datasets on the biodiversity impacts and monetary costs (damage and management cos...

In this study, we examined the response of ant communities to a crown wildfire that occurred three years prior, in an area dominated by pine forest, near the village of Belver, Gavião (Portugal). We focused on ants as they are abundant and dominant arthropods in most terrestrial and serve as reliable indicators of ecosystem health. Our goal was to...

Background Biological invasions threaten the functioning of ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being by degrading ecosystem services and eliciting massive economic costs. The European Union has historically been a hub for cultural development and global trade, and thus, has extensive opportunities for the introduction and spread of alien spec...

The high ecological impacts of many invasive alien trees have been well documented. However, to date, we lacked synthesis of their economic impacts, hampering management actions. Here, we summarize the cost records of invasive trees to (I) identify invasive trees with cost information and their geographic locations, (II) investigate the types of co...

Wildfires play a determinant role in the composition and structure of animal communities, especially for groups closely associated with the vegetation and soil, such as bees or ants. The effects of fire on animal communities depend on the functional traits of each group. Here, we assessed the impacts of fire and time since fire on the taxonomic and...

Background Rodents are among the most notorious invasive alien species worldwide. These invaders have substantially impacted native ecosystems, food production and storage, local infrastructures, human health and well-being. However, the lack of standardized and understandable estimation of their impacts is a serious barrier to raising societal awa...

The globally invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) possesses a venom lethal to some amphibian species in the invaded range. To test the novel weapons hypothesis (NWH), the effects of the toxin on the cohabiting amphibian species in the ant’s native range need to be investigated. The invader should benefit from the novel chemical in the invade...

Background: Biological invasions threaten the functioning of ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being by degrading ecosystem services and eliciting massive economic costs. The European Union, as the world’s third-largest economy, has historically been a hub for cultural development and global trade, and thus, has extensive opportunities for t...

Biological invasions are a global challenge that has received insufficient attention. Recently available cost syntheses have provided policy and decision makers with reliable and up-to-date information on the economic impacts of invasive alien species, aiming to motivate effective management. The resultant InvaCost database is now publicly and free...

The Argentine ant is one of the five worst invasive ants. Recently it has been shown that one of the main compounds of its pygidial gland, iridomyrmecin, is used as a venom against competitors and enemies. Here, we explore the variability in the quantities of iridomyrmecin of individual workers, along a range of locations pertaining to both its nat...

Consistent variation in behavioural traits among individuals is common in many species and such variation has been documented along large-scale environmental gradients across the geographic ranges of several species. However, the effect of local environmental variation on the behaviour of subpopulations and the ecological impact of such variation r...

Biological invasions represent a key threat to insular systems and have pronounced impacts across environments and economies. The ecological impacts have received substantial focus, but the socioeconomic impacts are poorly synthesized across spatial and temporal scales. We used the InvaCost database, the most comprehensive assessment of published e...

A collective understanding of economic impacts and in particular of monetary costs of biological invasions is lacking for the Nordic region. This paper synthesizes findings from the literature on costs of invasions in the Nordic countries together with expert elicitation. The analysis of cost data has been made possible through the InvaCost databas...

Poster of the article : "Biological invasions in France: Alarming costs and even more alarming knowledge gaps"

Articles about doing a PhD tend to focus on the difficulties faced by research students. Here we argue that the scientific community should also highlight the positive elements of the PhD experience.

Biological invasions are one of the main threats to biodiversity within protected areas (PAs) worldwide. Meanwhile, the resilience of PAs to invasions remains largely unknown. Consequently, providing a better understanding of how they are impacted by invasions is critical for informing policy responses and optimally allocating resources to preventi...

Invasive ants are amongst the most destructive and widespread invaders across the globe; they can strongly alter invaded ecosystems and are responsible for the loss of native ant species. Several studies have reported that invasive ants can also lead to substantial economic costs. In this study, we search, describe and analyse 1342 reported costs o...

Temperature and competition are two of the main factors determining ant community assemblages. Temperature may allow species to forage more or less efficiently throughout the day (in accordance with the maximum activity temperature of each species). Competition can be observed and quantified from species replacements occurring during resource explo...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major driver of global biodiversity loss, hampering conservation efforts and disrupting ecosystem functions and services. While accumulating evidence documented ecological impacts of IAS across major geographic regions, habitat types and taxonomic groups, appraisals for economic costs remained relatively sparse. T...

Biological invasions represent a key threat to island ecosystems, with pronounced impacts across environments and economies. The ecological impacts have received substantial focus, but the economic costs have lacked synthesis at spatial and temporal scales. Here we utilise the InvaCost database, the most comprehensive global assessment of published...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic...

Invasive alien species (IAS) affect natural ecosystems and services fundamental to human well-being, human health and economies. However, the economic costs associated with IAS have been less studied than other impacts. This information can be particularly important for developing countries such as Argentina, where monetary resources for invasion m...

Invasive species have caused severe impacts on biodiversity and human society. Although the estimation of environmental impacts caused by invasive species has increased in recent years, economic losses associated with biological invasions are only sporadically estimated in space and time. In this study, we synthesized the losses incurred by invasio...

Invasive alien species (IAS) negatively impact the environment and undermine human well-being, often resulting in considerable economic costs. The Mediterranean basin is a culturally, socially and economically diverse region, harbouring many IAS that threaten economic and societal integrity in multiple ways. This paper is the first attempt to colle...

Invasive species can have severe impacts on ecosystems, economies, and human health. Though the economic impacts of invasions provide important foundations for management and policy, up-to-date syntheses of these impacts are lacking. To produce the most comprehensive estimate of invasive species costs within North America (including the Greater Ant...

Terrestrial ecosystems, owing to the presence of key socio-economic sectors such as agriculture and forestry, may be particularly economically affected by biological invasions. The present study uses a subset of the recently developed database of global economic costs of biological invasions (InvaCost) to quantify the monetary costs of biological i...

The ever-increasing number of introduced species profoundly threatens global biodiversity. While the ecological and evolutionary consequences of invasive alien species are receiving increasing attention, their economic impacts have largely remained understudied, especially in France. Here, we aimed at providing a general overview of the monetary lo...

Invasive alien species are responsible for a high economic impact on many sectors worldwide. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of studies assessing these impacts in Central and South America. Investigating costs of invasions is important to motivate and guide policy responses by increasing stakeholders’ awareness and identifying action priorities....

Despite the large body of knowledge recognising the impact of biological invasions on biodiversity, their economic impact has been less evaluated. However, the associated economic costs ought to provide useful information on many different aspects to prevent and manage invasions. Here, we describe the economic costs of biological invasions in Japan...

Economic assessments for invasive alien species (IAS) are an urgent requirement for informed decision-making, coordinating and motivating the allocation of economic and human resources for the management of IAS. We searched for economic costs of IAS occurring in Spain, by using the InvaCost database and requesting data to regional governments and n...

Biological invasions, as a result of human intervention through trade and mobility, are the second biggest cause of biodiversity loss. The impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) on the environment are well known, however, economic impacts are poorly estimated, especially in mega-diverse countries where both economic and ecological consequences of...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic co...

Biological invasions can dramatically impact natural ecosystems and human societies. However, although knowledge of the economic impacts of biological invasions provides crucial insights for efficient management and policy, reliable syntheses are still lacking. This is particularly true for low income countries where economic resources are insuffic...

One of the main traits of invasive ants is the formation of supercolonies, large networks of polygynous nests lacking intraspecific competition, which allows them to reach high densities that facilitate their spread. However, different supercolonies exhibit different success in expanding along the world. Here, we explore whether the main chemical d...

Much research effort has been invested in understanding ecological impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) across ecosystems and taxonomic groups, but empirical studies about economic effects lack synthesis. Using a comprehensive global database, we determine patterns and trends in economic costs of aquatic IAS by examining: (i) the distribution of...

The Argentine ant is an invasive species that has spread all over the world and is organized in several supercolonies. While there are many studies about factors promoting the expansion of the species, little is known about the factors affecting the variation in spread among the different supercolonies. We examined the environmental and spatial var...

Invasive species are a major driver of global biodiversity loss, hampering conservation efforts and disrupting ecosystem functions and services. While accumulating evidence has documented ecological impacts of invasive species across major geographic regions, habitat types and taxonomic groups, appraisals for economic costs have remained relatively...

Rodents are a notorious group of invaders worldwide. Their invasions have substantially impacted native ecosystems, local infrastructure, and human health and well-being. However, a lack of synthesized estimation of their economic impacts hampers effective management interventions at relevant scales. Here, we used the InvaCost database – the most u...

Invasive ants are amongst the most destructive and widespread invaders across the globe; they can strongly alter invaded ecosystems and are responsible for the displacement of numerous native ant species. Several studies have reported that invasive ants can lead to substantial economic costs. In this study, we search, describe and analyze 1,621 rep...

Two of the world's most invasive ants, Linepithema humile and Lasius neglectus, are destined to overlap in range as they continue to spread throughout Europe. Although L. humile arrived first, and is therefore more numerically abundant, L. neglectus is the more behaviorally dominant of the two. We performed lab trials to determine whether L. humile...

We contend that the exclusive focus on the English language in scientific research might hinder effective communication between scientists and practitioners or policy makers whose mother tongue is non-English. This barrier in scientific knowledge and data transfer likely leads to significant knowledge gaps and may create biases when providing globa...

Biological invasions are one of the main threats to biodiversity within protected areas (PAs) worldwide. Meanwhile, the resilience of PAs along with their capacity to mitigate impacts from invasions remains largely unknown. Filling this knowledge gap is therefore critical for informing policy responses and optimally allocating resources invested in...

Exploring shifts in the climatic niches of introduced species can provide significant insight into the mechanisms underlying the invasion process and the associated impacts on biodiversity. We aim to test the phylogenetic signal hypothesis in native and introduced species in Europe by examining climatic niche similarity. We examined data from 134 a...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a leading driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, and have negative impacts on human societies. In most countries, available data on monetary costs of IAS are scarce, while being crucial for developing efficient management. In this study, we use available data collected from the first global assessment of economic co...

Within ant communities, the biotic resistance of native species against invasive ones is expected to be rare, because invasive species are often highly dominant competitors. The invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile (Mayr)) often demonstrated numerical dominance against its opponents, increased aggressiveness, and ability to quickly recruit to...