Are invasive species the drivers of ecological change?

By Raphael K. Didham, J. Tylianakis, M. Hutchison, Robert M. Ewers, Neil J. Gemmell. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2005

899 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Invasive species are widely accepted as one of the leading direct causes of biodiversity loss. However, much of the evidence for this contention is based on simple correlations between exotic dominance and native species decline in degraded systems. Although appealing, direct causality is not the only possible interpretation. A plausible alternative hypothesis is that exotic dominance could be the indirect consequence of habitat modification driving native species loss. In a new paper, MacDougall and Turkington now provide the first direct test of whether invasive species are the drivers of community change, or merely 'passengers' along for the environmental ride.

Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/177def55d4988e76f4e4d5169dacfd26cbcbcf87

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

1. B. Larson

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

1. Purity Rima Mbaabu
2. S. Choge
3. B. Larson
4. M. Clavero
5. Anteneh Abebe
6. T. Linders
7. L. Nigatu
8. Erle C. Ellis

In Social Psychology

1. D. Sol
2. B. Larson
3. P. Brown
4. James T. Carlton
5. Josef Settele
6. Helen E. Roy
7. Wilfried Thuiller
8. Petr Pyšek

Citations in the corpus

• Alien versus native species as drivers of recent extinctions (2019, background): “Although alien species impacts have been argued to be frequent passengers of other environmental changes, rather than the causative drivers (Didham et al. 2005), our data suggest that passenger status is more likely for native species when it comes to recent extinctions.”
• Effects of biological invasions on forest carbon sequestration (2010, background): “For example, many invaders can be considered the passengers of other agents of global change (sensu MacDougall & Turkington, 2005), and as such are merely beneficiaries of changed land-use, nutrient deposition rates, or disturbance regimes (Didham et al., 2005; Tylianakis et al., 2008).”
• Progress toward understanding the ecological impacts of nonnative species (2013, background): “…that invasions can be the sole cause of major ecological disruptions (e.g., Clavero and Garcı́a-Berthou 2005), each new observed impact begs the question of whether the nonnative species is a driver or merely a ‘‘passenger’’ of the ecological change (Didham et al. 2005, King and Tschinkel 2008).”
• Ecosystem Consequences of Biological Invasions (2010, background): “Site history has also been invoked as a major modifying factor in determining ecosystem impacts of exotics (Didham et al. 2005, Kulmatiski et al. 2006).”
• Impacts of Biological Invasions on Freshwater Ecosystems (2010, background): “…been implicated as a principal cause of freshwater extinctions (Miller et al. 1989 ; Witte et al. 1992 ), researchers are confronted with the question of whether non - indigenous species are drivers or merely ‘ passengers ’ of ecological changes leading to biodiversity loss (Didham et al. 2005 ).”
• Reservoirs promote the taxonomic homogenization of fish communities within river basins (2010, background): “The discussion on the role of habitat alterations and invasive species in biodiversity loss has gained importance in the last decade (e.g., Didham et al. 2005).”
• Impact of plant invasions on local arthropod communities: a meta‐analysis (2014, background): “Invaders could also exploit and enhance an already ongoing deterioration of the ecosystem (Didham et al. 2005).”
• Direct and indirect effects of invasive species: Biodiversity loss is a major mechanism by which an invasive tree affects ecosystem functioning (2019, background): “For instance, disturbance may increase invasion and may also affect ecosystem functioning (Didham, Tylianakis, Hutchison, Ewers, & Gemmell, 2005).”
• Biological invasions in inland waters: an overview (2007, background): “However, the dominance of NIS might be an indirect consequence of habitat modifications that by themselves lead to both indigenous species loss and NIS invasion (Gurevitch and Padilla 2004, Didham et al. 2005).”
• How can a knowledge of the past help to conserve the future? Biodiversity conservation and the relevance of long-term ecological studies (2007, background): “(i) One of the central ecological questions in invasive species research is determining what makes certain habitats more susceptible to invasion by non-indigenous species and, conversely, what enables certain species to become effective invaders (Didham et al. 2005).”
• Marine range shifts and species introductions: comparative spread rates and community impacts (2010, background): “…harbour less diverse communities or be more disturbed (Lodge, 1993; Stachowicz et al., 1999; Sax & Brown, 2000; Levine et al., 2004; but see Didham et al., 2005), although it is difficult to tease disturbance apart from the confounding effects of high propagule pressure or low native…”
• An alien approach to invasive species: objectivity and society in invasion biology (2007, background): “This may be the appropriate course, even if there are valid doubts about whether invasive species are really so bad (Gurevitch and Padilla 2004; Didham et al. 2005 ).”