# Science Has Fun: From the Cost of Invasive Species to CIRAD’s Wood Library
Welcome to *La Science s’aMuse*, the science show co-produced by UM and Divergence-FM, which takes you on a tour of the Muse laboratory complex. This week, Jean-Michel Salles, an economist at CEE-M, and Rodolphe Gozlan fromISEM discuss the cost of invasive species. In the second half of the show, Patrick Langbour gives us a tour of CIRAD’s xylotheque.
And I hope this long weekend did you some good. Did you catch that faint scent? The scent of days getting longer, the sun warming up, and barbecues sizzling away. Summer, right? Soon it’ll be time for swimming, vacations, and of course: the inevitable spectacle of new tourists in Palavas fleeing the terraces in a panic when, at 7 p.m. sharp, a swarm of tiger mosquitoes attacks them. Does that make you laugh? Me too. But the other story is that of the restaurant owner for whom the worst sting will undoubtedly be the impact of these pesky bugs on his bottom line. And the bill might be much steeper than we think.
For the first time, scientists from the CNRS, the IRD, and the National Museum of Natural History have just released the most comprehensive estimate ever of the costs caused by invasive alien species. And brace yourselves, because here’s another stinger: those costs are estimated to reach nearly $1.3 trillion over the course of 40 years. Their study was published in the prestigious journal Nature on March 31. Our guests today are co-authors of this paper. The first is with us in the studio: Jean-Michel Salles is an economist at CEE-M (Center for Environmental Economics, Montpellier). He specializes in environmental economics and the economics of biodiversity. The second is with us by phone: Rodolphe Gozlan, an ecologist atISEM (Institute of Evolutionary Sciences).
In the second half of the show, the segment “En salle des machines” takes you to CIRAD, where Patrick Langbour gives a tour of an impressive collection: the BiowooED wood library !
For more information:
- Read the CNRS press release
- Read the study: “High and rising economic costs of biological invasions worldwide.” Christophe Diagne, Boris Leroy, Anne-Charlotte Vaissière, Rodolphe E. Gozlan, David Roiz, Ivan Jarić, Jean-Michel Salles, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, and Franck Courchamp. *Nature*, March 31, 2021.
- Another article by Franck Courchamp and his colleagues: Is science spoken only in English?
- Press articles:
Science is Fun—you’ve got the ticket, let’s go!
Production: University of Montpellier/Divergence FM
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview and reporting: Aline Périault/Lucie Lecherbonnier
Editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Bruno Bertrand
Tune in to the show “A LUM LA SCIENCE” on Divergence FM 93.9
