Invasive species cause damages worth trillions: Study

PARIS — From river-clogging plants to disease-carrying insects, the direct economic cost of invasive species worldwide has averaged about $35 billion a year for decades, researchers said on Monday.

Since 1960, damage from non-native plants and animals expanding into new territory has cost human society more than $2.2 trillion, 17 times higher than previous estimates, they reported in the journal Nature Ecology& Evolution.

The accelerating spread of invasive species — from mosquitoes to wild boar to tough-to-eradicate plants — blights agriculture, spreads disease and drives the growing pace of species extinction.