scholarly journals The role of aggression in range expansion and biological invasions

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Hudina ◽  
Karlo Hock ◽  
Krešimir žganec
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Range Expansion ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Invasion Process ◽  
High Population Density ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Expansion Range ◽  
Niche Competition

Abstract Traits that aid in the invasion process should exhibit a gradient across the expansion range in response to changing selection pressures. Aggression has been repeatedly associated with invasion success in many taxa, as it may help invaders to wrestle the resources from other species which enhances their success in a novel environment. However, aggression primarily allows individuals to overcome conspecific rivals, providing advantages in competition over resources. Agonistic prowess could therefore increase fitness at both ends of the expansion gradient. Here we review the role of aggression in range expansion of invasive species, and its potential role as a driver of range expansion. We analyze how these different mechanisms could affect trait variation in expanding and invasive populations. Specifically, we look at how aggression could help dilate the edges of a population through niche competition, as well as lead to exclusion from the center (i.e. areas of high population density) by the conspe-cifics. Both of these processes will result in a characteristic spatial distribution of phenotypes related to aggression that could provide insights into the ecological pressures and dynamics of expanding populations, potentially providing clues to their success as niche competitors and invasive species.

scholarly journals Native turncoats and indirect facilitation of species invasions

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1871) ◽  
pp. 20171936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobin D. Northfield ◽  
Susan G. W. Laurance ◽  
Margaret M. Mayfield ◽  
Dean R. Paini ◽  
William E. Snyder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Indirect Interactions ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Species Invasion ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
Indirect Facilitation

At local scales, native species can resist invasion by feeding on and competing with would-be invasive species. However, this relationship tends to break down or reverse at larger scales. Here, we consider the role of native species as indirect facilitators of invasion and their potential role in this diversity-driven ‘invasion paradox’. We coin the term ‘native turncoats’ to describe native facilitators of non-native species and identify eight ways they may indirectly facilitate species invasion. Some are commonly documented, while others, such as indirect interactions within competitive communities, are largely undocumented in an invasion context. Therefore, we use models to evaluate the likelihood that these competitive interactions influence invasions. We find that native turncoat effects increase with the number of resources and native species. Furthermore, our findings suggest the existence, abundance and effectiveness of native turncoats in a community could greatly influence invasion success at large scales.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of life history traits and introduction effort in understanding invasion success in mammals: A case study of Barbary ground squirrels

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie van der Marel ◽  
Jane M. Waterman ◽  
Marta López-Darias
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Life History ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Biodiversity And Ecosystem Function ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Main Factor

AbstractInvasive species –species that have successfully overcome the barriers of transport, introduction, establishment, and spread– are a risk to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Introduction effort is one of the main factors attributed to invasion success, but life history traits are also important as they influence population growth. In this contribution, we first investigated life history traits of the Barbary ground squirrel, Atlantoxerus getulus, a species with a remarkably low introduction effort, and studied whether their exceptional invasion success is due to a very fast life history profile through a comparison of these traits to other successfully invaded mammals. We then examined whether number of founders and/or a fast life history influences invasion success of squirrels. We found that Barbary ground squirrels were on the fast end of the “fast-slow continuum”, but their life history is not the only contributing factor for their invasion success, as the life history profile is comparable to other invasive species that do not have such a low introduction effort. We also found that neither life history traits nor number of founders explained invasion success of introduced squirrels in general. These results contradict the concept that introduction effort is the main factor explaining invasion success, especially in squirrels. Instead, we argue that invasion success can be influenced by multiple aspects of the new habitat or the biology of the introduced species.

Phenotypic plasticity in hybridizing Carpobrotus spp. (Aizoaceae) from coastal California and its role in plant invasion

2000 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 1411-1418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewald Weber ◽  
Carla M D'Antonio
Keyword(s):  
Clonal Growth ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Parental Species ◽  
Common Garden ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Carpobrotus Edulis ◽  
Hybrid Classes ◽  
Plastic Responses ◽  
Physiological Characters

Carpobrotus edulis (L.) N. E. Br., an exotic perennial that invades the coastal habitats of California, hybridizes with the presumed native Carpobrotus chilensis (Mol.) N. E. Br. To investigate the potential role of hybrids in the invasion process by C. edulis, we compared the growth and plasticity of clones of hybrids and parental species. Ramets of three hybrid classes and both parental species were grown in a common garden with four different environments. Both the parental species and the hybrids exhibited strong plastic responses to the test environments for characters describing clonal growth and physiology. Carpobrotus edulis consistently had the largest biomass, but C. chilensis produced longer branches. Carbon isotope ratios (<$QFD0E00000010446D80BFFEFF88A6750DA8D9C8282ADCC6210090483DA6ECD7658F80>13C) showed only weak differences among morphotypes. Hybrids were mostly intermediate relative to parental species in both growth and physiological characters. The intermediacy of hybrids in their response to environmental variation indicates that they do not have inferior growth compared with parental species. The high amount of plasticity of the hybrids and C. edulis, as well as their overall similarity, may account for their invasion success in different habitats of coastal California.

scholarly journals Microbiome of the Successful Freshwater Invader, the Signal Crayfish, and Its Changes along the Invasion Range

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Dragičević ◽  
Ana Bielen ◽  
Ines Petrić ◽  
Marija Vuk ◽  
Jurica Žučko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Invasion Success ◽  
Invasion Process ◽  
Signal Crayfish ◽  
Health And Fitness ◽  
Pathogenic Microbes

Invasive species are among the major drivers of biodiversity loss and impairment of ecosystem services worldwide, but our understanding of their invasion success and dynamics still has many gaps. For instance, although it is known that host-associated microbial communities may significantly affect an individual’s health and fitness, the current studies on invasive species are mainly focused on pathogenic microbes, while the effects of the remaining majority of microbial communities on the invasion process are almost completely unexplored.

POPDC proteins and cardiac function

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1393-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brand
Keyword(s):  
Potential Role ◽  
Striated Muscle ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Effector Proteins ◽  
Muscle Disease ◽  
Disease Genes ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
And Function

Abstract The Popeye domain-containing gene family encodes a novel class of cAMP effector proteins in striated muscle tissue. In this short review, we first introduce the protein family and discuss their structure and function with an emphasis on their role in cyclic AMP signalling. Another focus of this review is the recently discovered role of POPDC genes as striated muscle disease genes, which have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and muscular dystrophy. The pathological phenotypes observed in patients will be compared with phenotypes present in null and knockin mutations in zebrafish and mouse. A number of protein–protein interaction partners have been discovered and the potential role of POPDC proteins to control the subcellular localization and function of these interacting proteins will be discussed. Finally, we outline several areas, where research is urgently needed.

The Effect of Path Length and Display Size on Memory for Spatial Information

2012 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Guérard ◽  
Sébastien Tremblay
Keyword(s):  
Path Length ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Recall Performance ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Serial Memory ◽  
Fixed Reference ◽  
A Minor

In serial memory for spatial information, some studies showed that recall performance suffers when the distance between successive locations increases relatively to the size of the display in which they are presented (the path length effect; e.g., Parmentier et al., 2005) but not when distance is increased by enlarging the size of the display (e.g., Smyth & Scholey, 1994). In the present study, we examined the effect of varying the absolute and relative distance between to-be-remembered items on memory for spatial information. We manipulated path length using small (15″) and large (64″) screens within the same design. In two experiments, we showed that distance was disruptive mainly when it is varied relatively to a fixed reference frame, though increasing the size of the display also had a small deleterious effect on recall. The insertion of a retention interval did not influence these effects, suggesting that rehearsal plays a minor role in mediating the effects of distance on serial spatial memory. We discuss the potential role of perceptual organization in light of the pattern of results.

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