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 costs recorded and sectors impacted by invasive trees and (III) analyze the relationships between categories of uses of invasive trees and the invasion costs attributed to these uses. We found reliable cost records only for 72 invasive trees, accumulating a reported total cost of $19.2 billion between 1960 and 2020. Agriculture was the sector with the highest cost records due to invasive trees. Most costs were incurred as resource damages and losses ($3.5 billion). Close attention to the ornamental sector is important for reducing the economic impact of invasive trees, since most invasive trees with cost records were introduced for that use. Despite massive reported costs of invasive trees, there remain large knowledge gaps on most invasive trees, sectors, and geographic scales, indicating that the real cost is severely underestimated. This highlights the need for further concerted and widely-distributed research efforts regarding the economic impact of invasive trees.

CAMB Center for Applied Mathematics and Bioinformatics Gulf University for Science and Technology Hallawy Kuwait

Department of Biology and Biochemistry University of Houston Houston TX USA

Department of Biology Carleton University Ottawa ON K1S 5B6 Canada

Department of Ecology and Conservation Institute of Natural Sciences Universidade Federal de Lavras UFLA Lavras Minas Gerais 37200 900 Brazil

Department of River Ecology and Conservation Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt Clamecystr 12 63571 Gelnhausen Germany

Department of Sociology Environmental and Business Economics University of Southern Denmark Degnevej 14 6705 Esbjerg Ø Denmark

Estación Biológica de Doñana Avda Americo Vespucio 26 41092 Sevilla Spain

Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice Zátiší 728 2 389 25 Vodňany Czech Republic

Institute for Global Food Security School of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast BT9 5DL UK

Instituto de Ecología Regional Universidad Nacional de Tucumán CONICET CC 34 4107 Yerba Buena Tucumán Argentina

Nürtingen Geislingen University Schelmenwasen 4 8 72622 Nürtingen Germany

Université Paris Saclay CNRS AgroParisTech Ecologie Systématique Evolution 91190 Gif sur Yvette France

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