About ParrotNet

Current state of knowledge

The recently adopted EC Communication on "Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020" (COM (2011) 244) set a specific target to address the issue of IAS and proposes a dedicated legislative instrument (listed under Action 16) to tackle the problem. Towards this goal, researchers in Europe are addressing the ‘parakeet problem’ in many different ways.

Relevant ‘state-of-the-art’ research within the EU:

Research on population size and spatial and temporal patterns of spread show that most parakeet populations are growing exponentially and spreading primarily across human-dominated areas. However, the drivers of this process are not well understood, hindering predictions of future range expansion, in the face of climate change which is likely to have a substantial influence on parakeet reproductive success; parakeets adapt their breeding time in response to climate, altering nesting sites to cope with prevailing conditions. Moreover, parakeets have expanded their realised niche into climates not occupied in their native range, hampering forecasts of invasion risk. Current research investigates whether morphological adaptations can explain such niche shifts. Although geneticists are characterising evolutionary patterns of invasion, more knowledge on parakeet genetics is crucial to understand their invasion success. Damage to agriculture and infrastructure is increasingly reported anecdotally, but no standardized databases of quantified data at the landscape level of these claims exist. Finally, research examining how parakeets are perceived by city dwellers and farmers and how they impact on human psychological well-being is underway. Importantly, however, these efforts urgently require coordination if the problems parakeets cause are to be effectively addressed at the EU level.

Relevant research worldwide:

The Action will build upon previous EU-funded projects such as DAISIE and NOBANIS. The global invasion of parakeets has also forced countries beyond Europe to begin to tackle this issue. For example, a recent EC-funded project is supporting IAS management in the Indian Ocean where parakeets have recently colonised.

Innovation to address an urgent problem:

To address the parakeet problem requires networking scientists and practitioners from a vast range of disciplines, from evolutionary genetics and agro-economics to the social sciences, demanding innovative creativity that arises only through interdisciplinary networking. Consequently, the Action will facilitate a highly interdisciplinary approach to IAS to produce policy-relevant science. In doing so, the Action will add value by building upon previous EU-funded projects such as those under the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes (e.g. DAISIE, NOBANIS, ALARM), as well as providing important momentum for current schemes on IAS (e.g. 2012-13 BiodivERsA).