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The biological invasions have been increasing at multiple spatial scales and the management of invasive alien species is becoming more challenging due to confounding effects of climate change on the distribution of those species. Identification of climatically suitable areas for invasive alien species and their range under future climate change scenarios areessentialfor long-term management planningofthesespecies. Using occurrence data of six of the most problematic invasive alien plants (IAPs) of Nepal (Ageratum houstonianum Mill., Chromolaenaodorata (L.) R.M. King & H. Rob., Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit., Lantana camara L., Mikania micrantha Kunth, and Parthenium hysterophorus L.), we have predicted their climatically suitable areas across the country under the current and two future climate change scenarios (RCP 4.5 scenarios for 2050 and 2070). We have developed an ensemble of eight different species distribution modelling approaches to predict the location of climatically suitable areas. Under the current climatic condition, P. hysterophorus had the highest suitable area (18% of the total country’s area) while it was the lowest for M. micrantha (12%). A predicted increase in the currently suitable areas ranges from 3% (M. micrantha) to 70% (A. houstonianum) with the mean value for all six species being 29% under the future climate change scenario for 2050. For four species (A. houstonianum, C. odorata, H.suaveolens and L. camara), additional areas at elevations higher than the current distribution will provide suitable habitat under the projected future climate. In conclusion, all six IAPs assessed are likely to invade additional areas in future due to climate change and these scenarios need to be considered while planning for IAPs management as well as climate change adaptation.

The presence of invasive species generally leads to negative impacts, some perhaps irreversible, and the economic costs from the impacts and their management can be substantial and long-lasting. Efforts to understand the extent of damages caused by invasive species are slowly gaining momentum globally; however, in many countries, efforts are only beginning. This guide will assist Pacific island practitioners to use the costs that result from invasive species incursions to gain support to fund prevention, management, restoration, research and outreach. SPREP thanks James Stanford, Aaron Buncle, and Jarrod Troutbeck, who advised the development of this guide.

National or Territory Invasive Species Strategies and Action Plans (NISSAP) are a critical document to ensure invasive species management is coordinated within a country or territory and that the different sectors involved with invasive species management are working together toward the same goals. NISSAP are essential to show political will for managing invasive species and are looked upon favourably by funding bodies.

Marine invasive species have received much less attention than terrestrial species worldwide. In the Pacific, the marine environment provides us with a significant part of our diet and income. Marine Managed Areas focus on protecting these important resources for livelihood purposes, biodiversity and ecosystem function, tourism and many other benefits. Although invasive species management is more difficult in the marine environment, it is not something we can neglect, and the efforts we put in need to increase. This guide seeks to provide some options for this management. Special thanks to Anne Haas, who completed an internship with the SPREP Invasive Species Programme from Yale University in 2015, for completing the literature review and creating the text for this guide.

This encyclopedia illuminates a topic at the forefront of global ecology - biological invasions, or organisms that come to live in the wrong place. Written by leading scientists from around the world, the book addresses all aspects of this subject at a global level - including invasions by animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria - in succinct, alphabetically arranged articles. Scientifically uncompromising, yet clearly written and free of jargon, the volume encompasses fields of study including biology, demography, geography, ecology, evolution, sociology, and natural history and features many cross-references, suggestions for further reading, illustrations, an appendix of the world's worst 100 invasive species, a glossary, and more. The book features articles on well-known invasive species such the zebra mussel, chestnut blight, cheatgrass, gypsy moth, Nile perch, giant African snail, and Norway rat and details regions with especially large numbers of introduced species including the Great Lakes, Mediterranean Sea, Hawaiian Islands, Australia and New Zealand. This work will be of great value in ecology and conservation science. Invasive species are a severe and exponentially growing problem of the environment, and one difficult even to characterize, much less contain.-Edward O. Wilson, author and scientist "Second only to habitat loss mixed with climate disruption, invasive species represent the next most serious threat to biodiversity. The Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions, written by an impressive group of experts, now makes available to conservation biologists, managers, decision makers, and concerned citizens a comprehensive single source of this key topic."-Paul R. Ehrlich, co-author of The Dominant Animal

Six archaeological sites up to 1000years old on Aitutaki, Cook Islands, have yielded bones of 15speciesof birds, five of which no longer occur ontheisland: Pterodromarostrata(Tahiti Petrel);Sula sula(Red-footedBooby); Dendrocygna,undescribedsp.(alarge,extinctwhistlingduck); Porzanatabuensis (Sooty Crake); and Vini kuhlii (Rimatara Lorikeet). Of these, only S. sula and P. tabuensis survive anywhere in the CookIslands today.The nearest record of anyspecies ofDendrocygnaisinFiji.Asidefrom theaquaticspeciesEgrettasacra (Pacific Reef-Heron) and Anas superciliosa (Gray Duck), the only native, resident land bird on Aitutakitoday isthe SocietyIslands Lorikeet(Viniperuviana), which may have been introduced from Tahiti. Residents ofAitutaki note that Ducula pacifica (Pacific Pigeon) and Ptilinopus rarotongensis (Cook Islands Fruit-Dove)also occurredthere until the 1940sor 1950s.There isno indigenous forest on Aitutaki today. The bones from Aitutaki also include the island's first record of the fruit batPteropus tonganus. Limestone caveson the island of Atiu yieldedthe undated bones of sixspeciesof birds, three of which no longer exist there or anywhere elsein the Cook Islands: Gallicolumba erythroptera (Society Islands Ground-Dove),Ducula aurorae (SocietyIslands Pigeon),and Vinikuhlii. Each of these specieshas been recovered from prehistoric sites on Mangaia as well. The limestone terrain of Atiu is mostly covered with native forest that supports populations of Ducula pacifica, Ptilinopus rarotongensis, Collocalia sawtelli(Atiu Swiftlet), and Halcyon tuta (Chattering Kingfisher). The survival of these land birds depends upon protection of Atiu's forests.