Reconstructing routes of invasion using genetic data: why, how and so what?

By Arnaud Estoup, Thomas Guillemaud. Molecular Ecology, 2010

643 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Detailed knowledge about the geographical pathways followed by propagules from their source to the invading populations—referred to here as routes of invasion—provides information about the history of the invasion process and the origin and genetic composition of the invading populations. The reconstruction of invasion routes is required for defining and testing different hypotheses concerning the environmental and evolutionary factors responsible for biological invasions. In practical terms, it facilitates the design of strategies for controlling or preventing invasions. Most of our knowledge about the introduction routes of invasive species is derived from historical and observational data, which are often sparse, incomplete and, sometimes, misleading. In this context, population genetics has proved a useful approach for reconstructing routes of introduction, highlighting the complexity and the often counterintuitive nature of the true story. This approach has proved particularly useful since the recent development of new model‐based methods, such as approximate Bayesian computation, making it possible to make quantitative inferences in the complex evolutionary scenarios typically encountered in invasive species. In this review, we summarize some of the fundamental aspects of routes of invasion, explain why the reconstruction of these routes is useful for addressing both practical and theoretical questions, and comment on the various reconstruction methods available. Finally, we consider the main insights obtained to date from studies of invasion routes.

Subfields: Ecology, Genetics, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cb62e1ba4423f1865d9e555283ecd72d6f49078d

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Citations in the corpus

Biological control of forest plantation pests in an interconnected world requires greater international focus (2012, background): “…and practitioners increasingly realize that genetic and genomic tools are essential to fully understand species and population diversity and to ensure the long-term effectiveness of biocontrol (Roderick and Navajas 2003; Hufbauer and Roderick 2005; Gariepy et al. 2007; Estoup and Guillemaud 2010).”
Complex patterns of global spread in invasive insects: eco-evolutionary and management consequences (2016, methodology): “…molecular data from invasive populations, clustering methods and likelihood-free ABC methods have in recent years made it possible to evaluate among and quantify key parameters of increasingly complex hypotheses about invasion routes, dubbed ‘‘scenarios’’ (Miura 2007; Estoup and Guillemaud 2010).”
Ascidians as models for studying invasion success (2015, background): “…fundamental questions, such as invasion histories, invasion sources and factors responsible for introduction and post-establishment spread (e.g., Estoup and Guillemaud 2010), and more applied topics such as development of effective management strategies and sustainable science-based policies…”
Ecological genetics of invasive alien species (2011, methodology): “There are important practical reasons for identifying bridgehead populations (Estoup and Guillemaud 2010).”
Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae): A New Threat to Tomato Production in Sub-Saharan Africa (2014, background): “Results could improve measures to prevent new introductions, to predict potential for future range extension of the pest, and to control invasive populations (Estoup & Guillemaud 2010).”
Applications of next-generation sequencing to the study of biological invasions (2015, background): “Finally, genetic data allows the inference of the most likely origins and colonization histories of introduced species (Dlugosch and Parker, 2008; Estoup and Guillemaud, 2010), which is vital for understanding the invasion process and predicting future invasions (Hulme et al., 2008).”
The global spread of Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae): distribution, dispersal and routes of invasion (2011, background): “Investigating the invasion routes of H. axyridis using genetic analyses Inferring invasion routes is an essential step towards implementing control measures and understanding the success of an invasive species (Estoup and Guillemaud 2010).”
Marine invasion genetics: from spatio-temporal patterns to evolutionary outcomes (2014, background): “…genetics, molecular barcoding and phylogenetics are increasingly used to understand aspects of biological invasions such as cryptic diversity, cryptic introductions, tracking the origin of introductions or characterising colonisation pathways (Estoup and Guillemaud 2010; Geller et al. 2010).”
The invasive South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta, continues to spread in Afro-Eurasia and beyond: the new threat to tomato world production (2011, background): “…for the recent invasions of T. absoluta and their dynamics, we need to describe its ‘routes of invasion’, i.e., the history of their populations of origin and the historical, demographic and genetic features of the introduced, established and invasive populations (Estoup and Guillemaud 2010).”
Phylogeographic consequences of different introduction histories of invasive Australian Acacia species and Paraserianthes lophantha (Fabaceae) in South Africa (2011, background): “The lack of detailed historical records often means that indirect approaches must be applied to infer introduction histories and their underlying processes (Le Roux & Wieczorek, 2009; Estoup & Guillemaud, 2010).”
Unravelling the global invasion routes of a worldwide invader, the red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) (2019, background): “Such information can be 84 useful for the management of invasive species and for the prevention of future introductions 85 (Estoup & Guillemaud, 2010), and phylogeographic studies have been proposed as an integral tool 86 of biodiversity conservation planning (van de Crommenacker et al., 2015).”