TY - JOUR
T1 - Consistency of impact assessment protocols for non-native species
AU - González-Moreno, Pablo
AU - Lazzaro, Lorenzo
AU - Vilà, Montserrat
AU - Preda, Cristina
AU - Adriaens, Tim
AU - Bacher, Sven
AU - Brundu, Giuseppe
AU - Copp, Gordon H.
AU - Essl, Franz
AU - García-Berthou, Emili
AU - Katsanevakis, Stelios
AU - Moen, Toril Loennechen
AU - Lucy, Frances E.
AU - Nentwig, Wolfgang
AU - Srebaliene, Greta
AU - Roy, Helen E.
AU - Talgø, Venche
AU - Vanderhoeven, Sonia
AU - Andjelkovic, Ana
AU - Arbaciauskas, Kestutis
AU - Auger-Rozenberg, Marie Anne
AU - Bae, Mi Jung
AU - Bariche, Michel
AU - Boets, Pieter
AU - Boieiro, Mário
AU - Borges, Paulo A.V.
AU - Canning-Clode, João
AU - Cardigos, Frederico
AU - Chartosia, Niki
AU - Cottier-Cook, Elizabeth Joanne
AU - Crocetta, Fabio
AU - D'hondt, Bram
AU - Foggi, Bruno
AU - Follak, Swen
AU - Gallardo, Belinda
AU - Gammelmo, Øivind
AU - Giakoumi, Sylvaine
AU - Giuliani, Claudia
AU - Guillaume, Fried
AU - Jelaska, Lucija Šeric
AU - Jeschke, Jonathan M.
AU - Jover, Miquel
AU - Juárez-Escario, Alejandro
AU - Kalogirou, Stefanos
AU - Kocic, Aleksandra
AU - Kytinou, Eleni
AU - Laverty, Ciaran
AU - Lozano, Vanessa
AU - Maceda-Veiga, Alberto
AU - Marchante, Elizabete
N1 - Copyright Pablo González-Moreno et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC
BY 4.0),
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - Standardized tools are needed to identify and prioritize the most harmful non-native species (NNS). A plethora of assessment protocols have been developed to evaluate the current and potential impacts of non-native species, but consistency among them has received limited attention. To estimate the consistency across impact assessment protocols, 89 specialists in biological invasions used 11 protocols to screen 57 NNS (2614 assessments). We tested if the consistency in the impact scoring across assessors, quantified as the coefficient of variation (CV), was dependent on the characteristics of the protocol, the taxonomic group and the expertise of the assessor. Mean CV across assessors was 40%, with a maximum of 223%. CV was lower for protocols with a low number of score levels, which demanded high levels of expertise, and when the assessors had greater expertise on the assessed species. The similarity among protocols with respect to the final scores was higher when the protocols considered the same impact types. We conclude that all protocols led to considerable inconsistency among assessors. In order to improve consistency, we highlight the importance of selecting assessors with high expertise, providing clear guidelines and adequate training but also deriving final decisions collaboratively by consensus.
AB - Standardized tools are needed to identify and prioritize the most harmful non-native species (NNS). A plethora of assessment protocols have been developed to evaluate the current and potential impacts of non-native species, but consistency among them has received limited attention. To estimate the consistency across impact assessment protocols, 89 specialists in biological invasions used 11 protocols to screen 57 NNS (2614 assessments). We tested if the consistency in the impact scoring across assessors, quantified as the coefficient of variation (CV), was dependent on the characteristics of the protocol, the taxonomic group and the expertise of the assessor. Mean CV across assessors was 40%, with a maximum of 223%. CV was lower for protocols with a low number of score levels, which demanded high levels of expertise, and when the assessors had greater expertise on the assessed species. The similarity among protocols with respect to the final scores was higher when the protocols considered the same impact types. We conclude that all protocols led to considerable inconsistency among assessors. In order to improve consistency, we highlight the importance of selecting assessors with high expertise, providing clear guidelines and adequate training but also deriving final decisions collaboratively by consensus.
KW - Environmental impact
KW - Expert judgement
KW - Invasive alien species policy
KW - Management prioritization
KW - Risk assessment
KW - Socio-economic impact
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/3097e092-856f-30fc-b1cd-1f831a78b033/
U2 - 10.3897/neobiota.44.31650
DO - 10.3897/neobiota.44.31650
M3 - Article
SN - 1619-0033
VL - 44
SP - 1
EP - 25
JO - NeoBiota
JF - NeoBiota
ER -