The importance of bioeconomic feedback in invasive species management

Invasive species can pose significant risks to society. Managing invasive risks cost-effectively would likely benefit from an integrated bioeconomic framework that accounts for the feedback links between the biological and economic systems. Modeling these feedbacks can be challenging relative to the standard “damage function” approach in which the parameters from one system are added to a model of the other, without any feedback. Given time constraints, the open question is whether the effort to capture feedback links is worthwhile and provides more useful information than not integrating. Herein, we use as our foil the case of zebra mussels in a Midwestern Lake. We consider responses from the removal of two forms of feedback: the loop between the firm and the biological system, and a loop between the manager and a firm. Our results suggest accounting for feedbacks can matter-but not in every dimension.