Although research on human-mediated exchanges of species has substantially intensified during the last centuries, we know surprisingly little about temporal dynamics of alien species accumulations across regions and taxa. Using a novel database of 45,813 first records of 16,926 established alien species, we show that the annual rate of first records worldwide has increased during the last 200 years, with 37% of all first records reported most recently (1970-2014). Inter-continental and inter-taxonomic variation can be largely attributed to the diaspora of European settlers in the nineteenth century and to the acceleration in trade in the twentieth century. For all taxonomic groups, the increase in numbers of alien species does not show any sign of saturation and most taxa even show increases in the rate of first records over time. This highlights that past efforts to mitigate invasions have not been effective enough to keep up with increasing globalization.

Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research Altensteinstrasse 34 14195 Berlin Germany

Bio Protection Research Centre Lincoln University PO Box 85084 Lincoln Christchurch 7648 New Zealand

Biota of North America Program 9319 Bracken Lane Chapel Hill North Carolina 27516 USA

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland Suite 14 Bridge House 1 2 Station Bridge Harrogate HG1 1SS UK

CABI Rue des Grillons 1 2800 Delémont Switzerland

Center for Interamerican Studies Department of Experimental and Systems Ecology Bielefeld University Universitätsstrasse 25 33615 Bielefeld Germany

Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research Department of Genetics Evolution and Environment University College London Gower Street London WC1E 6BT UK

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Maclean Building Benson Lane Crowmarsh Gifford Wallingford OX10 8BB UK

Centre for Invasion Biology Department of Botany and Zoology Stellenbosch University Private Bag X1 Matieland 7602 South Africa

Charles Darwin Foundation Puerto Ayora Santa Cruz Galápagos Ecuador

CIBIO InBIO Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos Cátedra Infraestruturas de Portugal Biodiversidade Universidade do Porto Campus Agrário de Vairão 4485 661 Vairão Portugal

Departamento de Botánica Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas Universidad de Concepción Casilla 160 C Concepción Chile

Department of Agriculture University of Sassari Viale Italia 39 07100 Sassari Italy

Department of Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Environment Agency Austria Spittelauer Laende 5 1090 Vienna Austria

Department of Biodiversity Macroecology and Biogeography Georg August University Göttingen Büsgenweg 1 37077 Göttingen Germany

Department of Biology University of Fribourg Chemin du Musée 10 1700 Fribourg Switzerland

Department of Biosciences Durham University South Road Durham DH1 3LE UK

Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research University of Vienna Rennweg 14 1030 Vienna Austria

Department of Botany National Museum of Natural History MRC 166 Smithsonian Institution P O Box 37012 Washington DC 20013 USA

Department of Ecology University of Konstanz Universitätsstrasse 10 78457 Konstanz Germany

Department of Environmental Biology Sapienza University p Moro 5 00185 Rome Italy

Department of Geobotany and Botanical Garden Martin Luther University of Halle Wittenberg Am Kirchweg 2 06108 Halle Germany

Department of Invasion Ecology Institute of Botany The Czech Academy of Sciences Zámek 1 CZ 252 43 Průhonice Czech Republic

Distinguished Scientist Fellowship Program King Saud University Riyadh 1145 Saudi Arabia

Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection Department of Botany and Nature Protection University of Silesia Jagiellonska Strasse 28 40 032 Katowice Poland

Faculty of Biology Department of Ecology and Systematics School of Sciences National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Athens 15784 Greece

Faculty of Science Department of Ecology Charles University Prague Viničná 7 CZ 128 44 Prague Czech Republic

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Deutscher Platz 5e 04103 Leipzig Germany

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research Department of Community Ecology Theodor Lieser Strasse 4 06120 Halle Germany

Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique UR 0633 Zoologie Forestière 45075 Orléans France

Institute for Agro Environmental Sciences NARO 3 1 3 Kannondai Tsukuba 305 8604 Japan

Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment University of Oldenburg Carl von Ossietzky Strasse 9 11 26111 Oldenburg Germany

Institute for Environmental Protection and Research Via Vitaliano Brancati 48 00144 Rome Italy

Institute of Biology at the Department of Biology Chemistry and Pharmacy Freie Universität Berlin Königin Luise Strasse 1 3 14195 Berlin Germany

Institute of Zoology Zoological Society of London Regent's Park London NW1 4RY UK

IUCN Species Survival Commission Invasive Species Specialist Group 00144 Rome Italy

IUCN Species Survival Commission Invasive Species Specialist Group University of Auckland Auckland 1072 New Zealand

IUCN Species Survival Commission Invasive Species Specialist Group Via Valentino Mazzola 38 T2 B 10 1 00142 Roma Italy

Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Müggelseedamm 310 12587 Berlin Germany

School of Biological Sciences University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia 5005 Australia

Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Senckenberganlage 25 60325 Frankfurt am Main Germany

US Forest Service Northern Research Station Morgantown West Virginia 26505 USA

Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig Museumsmeile Bonn 53113 Bonn Germany

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