International tracking of the COVID-19 invasion: an amazing example of a globalized scientific coordination effort

Abstract

It is extraordinary to witness the spread of COVID-19 almost in real-time. This tight monitoring of the invasion of a new virus is a situation that most other invasion scientists could only dream of. Especially spatiotemporal spread data of the early phases of an invasion would be extremely useful in order to understand and predict the human-mediated spread of species around the globe. So far, invasive species that directly affect human health, such as the Sars-Cov-2 virus causing COVID-19, have been treated differently from invasive species affecting environmental health. Despite progresses in constructing large checklists of invasive species, these records often enter the databases only decades after the establishment of the organism in a country. This is inadequate to understand ongoing spread dynamics and estimate current invasion risks. Yet, national services often possess extremely useful information about early detections and interceptions of species at air and maritime ports, which could greatly improve predictions and help set management priorities. Considering the massive impacts of invasive species, it is time to move on to such a collaborative way of handling invasion data. Invasive insects, birds, mammals, fungi, and other species are the result of globalization and call for a globalized response, exactly like the COVID-19 pandemic.