JULY 15,
2019
Non-native
parrots can cause substantial agricultural damage and threaten native
biodiversity, although impacts vary strongly depending on where these parrots
have been introduced. Brought to Europe as pets, escaped or released parrots
have established numerous wild populations across Europe. Tens of thousands of
ring-necked and monk parakeets make up the bulk of Europe's parrots, but
several more species are gaining a foothold too.
A
pan-European team of researchers, conservationists, wildlife managers and
policy-makers worked together under the umbrella of ParrotNet, an EU COST
Action, and have reviewed the available evidence on parrot damage, concluding
that measures to prevent parrots from invading new areas are paramount for
limiting future harm. Their findings are published in the open-access
journal NeoBiota.
Introduced
parrots can damage the environment, but severe impacts remain rare and
localised. So far, most reports of damage are linked to the widespread and
locally abundant ring-necked and monk parakeets. Studies
show that in their native ranges, both species can and regularly do inflict
large crop losses, but in Europe, expectations of comparable widespread and
severe damage to agriculture have so far failed to materialise.
In
Europe, competition with native species presents a more serious problem,
especially for ring-necked parakeets as they can compete with native species
for food and breeding sites. Meanwhile, in the Americas, monk parakeets are
notorious for the damage their stick nests cause to power infrastructures by
catching fire, yet very little evidence for such problems exist in Europe.
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