Introducing the Ecological Explosion A Cross-National Analysis of Invasive Species and Economic Development

Despite the social forces behind the introduction of invasive species as well as their immense environmental and economic impacts, scholars of animals and society and environmental sociology have so far largely ignored ecological invasions. This study is intended to address this lacuna through a cross-national empirical analysis of invasive species and economic development in 186 nations. We contextualize this study within appropriate historical, ecological, and social literature and integrate this analysis into the long-standing and important debate in environmental sociology between treadmill of production theory and ecological modernization theory. We develop a negative binomial regression model to examine the relationship between population, per capita gross domestic product, urban development, and the presence of invasive species taxa in nations. Our findings support treadmill of production theory, showing that economic development contributes to the establishment of invasive species.