BIOCOMPLEXITY--INCUBATION ACTIVITY: Risk Assessment of Nonindigenous Species

在评估非本地物种（NIS）对美国社会的风险时，这个跨学科的团队将使用一个从经济学理论中衍生出来的模型来整合NIS的生态、经济和社会效益和成本。在世界淡水生态系统中，NIS是生物多样性丧失的主要原因；在大多数其他生态系统中，NIS是三大原因之一。NIS不仅会造成巨大的生态变化，还会直接造成巨大的经济损失和社会变革（例如，本地可收获资源被NIS取代）。虽然正在执行减少外来生物入侵的发生和影响的政策和条例（例如大湖区和沿海水域的压载物条例），但这些步骤是在对生物入侵过程的生物、经济和社会方面缺乏基本科学认识的情况下采取的。这个由水生生态学家、生态建模师和社会科学家组成的团队将以北美五大湖为例，开发一种综合方法来评估NIS的风险。

In assessing the risk to US society of nonindigenous species (NIS)-species introduced into an ecosystem in which they did not previously exist-this interdisciplinary team will use a model derived from economic theory to integrate ecological, economic, and social benefits and costs of NIS. In the freshwater ecosystems of the world, NIS are the leading cause of biodiversity loss; in most other ecosystems, NIS are one of the top three causes. Not only do NIS cause enormous ecological changes, but they also directly cause large economic losses and social change (e.g., as native harvestable resources are replaced by NIS). Although policies and regulations are being implementing to reduce the occurrence and impact of NIS (e.g., ballast regulations in the Great Lakes and coastal waters), these steps are being taken in the absence of a basic scientific understanding of the biological, economic, and social dimensions of the process of biological invasions. This team of aquatic ecologists, ecological modelers, and social scientists will develop an integrative approach to risk assessment of NIS, using the North American Great Lakes as a case study.