Raising concerns on the dangers of linking biological invasions to human migration

Barbulescu, Roxana and South, Josie and Byrne, Bridget and Solomos, John and Benson, Michaela and Silva, Carlos Carlos Vargas and Yemane, Tesfalem and Zambelli, Elena and Anghel, Remus Gabriel and Bacher, Sven and Torres, Anastasia Maria Bermudez and Bernard-Verdier, Maud and Bibi, Rashida and Boatcă, Manuela and Bolpagni, Rossano and Colon, Deidre and Demoule, Jean-Paul and Dunn, Alison M. and Durrant, Sam and Faist, Thomas and Finotelli, Claudia and Garelli, Glenda and Gidley, Ben and Gippet, Jerome M. W. and Gonzalez, Sara and Guareschi, Simone and Heger, Tina and Hill, Sara and Hobbs, Joshua and Holmes, George and Hulme, Philip E. and Jones, Hannah and Jacob, Marie-Andree and Khosa, Dumisani and Kilkey, Majella and Kusumastuti, Ayu and Lavanchy, Anne and Lewis, Hannah and Macêdo, Rafael L. and Giralt, Rosa Mas and Musseau, Camille L. and Makinejad, Mona and Castro, Esther Regina Neira and Pattison, Zarah and Probert, Anna and Roberts, Jonathan David and Ruland, Florian and Saul, Wolf-Christian and Sciortino, Giuseppe and Shackleton, Ross T. and Sigona, Nando and Sokolovska, Simona and Souter, James and Sun, Li and Vathi, Zana and Vieten, Ulrike and Vimercati, Giovanni and Waite, Louise and Wilson, Pip and Yannelli, Florencia A. (2025) Raising concerns on the dangers of linking biological invasions to human migration. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 48 (13). pp. 2496-2501. ISSN 0141-9870

Abstract

A recent paper by Ahmed et al. (2025. “Parallels and Discrepancies between non-native Species Introductions and Human Migration.” Biological Reviews 100 (3): 1365–1395), published in Biological Reviews, suggests a comparative analysis of biological invasions (concerning interactions between different species) and human migration (concerning interactions among members of the same species) presenting prospective similarities between the two phenomena and proposing the existence of an “untapped potential in interdisciplinary research”. In this commentary, we assemble scholars from migration and biology domains to raise concerns on the conceptual inconsistencies present in said article and discuss implications for social sciences, migration, ethnic and racial studies. South et al. (2025. “Parallels between Biological Invasions and Human Migration Are Flawed and Undermine Both Disciplines. Response to Ahmed et al.” BioScience. Advance online publication), in turn, review the limitations from a biological science perspective. In this way, we seek to provide an interdisciplinary response and reach audiences across disciplines.