Range Expansion or Contraction? A Bibliometric and Systematic Review of Biological Invasions of Animals in the Context of Climate Change

Abstract

Changing climate may affect the invasiveness of invasive alien species (IAS) through altered habitats and hosts, altered frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events, changes to land use patterns, creation of suitable habitats which may facilitate species movement, and increase opportunities to cross historical geographic barriers. The impact of climate change on range expansion/contraction of IAS remains controversial. To address this issue, we conducted a review to examine numerical and thematic trends in the relationship between IAS and climate change. We also conducted a systematic review of how climate change impacts range extraction/expansion of invasive animals. American, Australia, and British researchers have published the largest number of papers and have had the greatest influence on research topics on IAS and climate change. Regarding the number of published documents, Plos One (n = 101), Science of the Total Environment (n = 51), and Scientific Reports (n = 43) were the leading or most prolific journals in the field of IAS. “Climate change”, “invasive species”, “global warming”, “biodiversity” and “biological invasion” are the most common informative words in the word clouds. "Invasive alien species",  "fire" and "risk assessment" were identified as the emerging fields of research in this area that warrant further investigation in the future. Insecta (41.58%), Actinopterygii (12.87%), and Amphibia (7.93%) were among the most studied animals in the context of climatic effects on invasive species. The geographic range of most invasive species (71.28%) is expected to expand under the changing climate. However, the range of some species is predicted to both contract and expand, depending on the scenario and context (20.8%). Notably, our review found that few invasive species are expected to contract their range under climate change (7.2%). Our results show that most invasive alien species will expand their range and occupy more new habitats in the future due to climate change.