Causes and Impacts of Biological Invasions in the Anthropocene

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past several decades, research on human-mediated exchanges of species has received growing interest. However, biological invasions continue to escalate worldwide, showing no sign of saturation. While the movements of European settlers and intensification of trade have been identified as prominent factors influencing this phenomenon over the last 200 years, the increasing trend also indicates that recent mitigation efforts have been insufficient to match the pace of the course of globalization. The answer to question of whether invasive species are the main drivers of changes in community assemblages and ecosystem functioning or simply passengers in the course of such changes in perturbed habitats appears to be case-dependent. While the interaction between climate change and invasion success has been established, the synergistic effects of these environmental perturbations on multispecies interactions remain largely unexplored. Likewise, recent insights into the eco-evolutionary mechanisms supporting invasive success and the role of adaptive phenotypic plasticity raise prospects for promising advances in the field. Adaptive evolution through post-invasion genetic diversification can occur more rapidly than researchers previously believed, with evidence already suggesting that rapid evolution can take place within the space of a few generations, in some cases through bridgehead effects. However, the means through which this genetic diversity translates into quantitative genetic variation in ecologically relevant traits, i.e., increased phenotypic plasticity, remain unclear. When introduced into new areas, non-native organisms often gain freedom from their natural predators, which likely adds to their successful population dynamics, but their long-term persistence may also depend on the invaded ecosystem’s resilience to the impacts created by the species themselves (i.e., the depletion of trophic resources). The magnitude and direction (whether positive or negative) of the impacts of biological invasion on species, communities and ecosystems can easily be confounded with other environmental perturbations. It is therefore necessary to explicitly address the context-dependent nature of invasion impacts (including the local spatiotemporal and ecological contexts) and to disentangle the individual drivers, i.e., those resulting from the unique attributes of the invasive organisms (such as functional diversity) or from global environmental causes (climate change, human-induced alterations of the environment, urbanization, etc.). Dispersal ability represents a prominent factor that shapes distribution changes in range-shifting species and likely coevolves with the functional traits driving fecundity or growth rates. While theoretical research and case studies have suggested that spatial sorting contributes to the selection of dispersive phenotypes at the moving front and may play a role in the acceleration of invasion phenomena, it is also presumed that the strength of the impact of positive selection on dispersal traits is modulated by a range of life history trade-offs that impact fitness and, therefore, invasion success (i.e., constrained energetic outputs). However, our current understanding of the evolutionary processes generating such pheno- or genotypic variation in the dispersal ability of species remains incomplete. Finally, the gap between innovation and management action in invasion science must be closed. This will require improved integration between ecological perspectives with regard to socio-economic considerations, including the economic costs incurred due to the effects of non-native species, and human perceptions of invasions.

This Special Issue aims to address the abovementioned gaps in research on biological invasions. We welcome contributions that explore biological invasions through different disciplinary, empirical or theoretical approaches. It is our intention to create a Special Issue that is integrative, bridging different methodologies and/or concepts. Contributions related to public policy are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. David Renault
Dr. Mathieu Laparie
Guest Editors

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• propagule pressure
• range expansion
• adaptation
• climate change
• dispersal ecology
• sociological perception
• economic impacts
• functional diversity
• biodiversity loss
• modelling
• pathways
• invasion risks