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Short‐ and long‐term effects of disturbance and propagule pressure on a biological invasion
Author(s) -
BrittonSimmons Kevin H.,
Abbott Karen C.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.452
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2745
pISSN - 0022-0477
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01319.x
Subject(s) - propagule , propagule pressure , disturbance (geology) , ecology , benthic zone , invasive species , herbivore , biology , term (time) , introduced species , environmental science , biological dispersal , population , paleontology , physics , demography , quantum mechanics , sociology
Summary1 Invading species typically need to overcome multiple limiting factors simultaneously in order to become established, and understanding how such factors interact to regulate the invasion process remains a major challenge in ecology. 2 We used the invasion of marine algal communities by the seaweed Sargassum muticum as a study system to experimentally investigate the independent and interactive effects of disturbance and propagule pressure in the short term. Based on our experimental results, we parameterized an integrodifference equation model, which we used to examine how disturbances created by different benthic herbivores influence the longer term invasion success of S. muticum . 3 Our experimental results demonstrate that in this system neither disturbance nor propagule input alone was sufficient to maximize invasion success. Rather, the interaction between these processes was critical for understanding how the S. muticum invasion is regulated in the short term. 4 The model showed that both the size and spatial arrangement of herbivore disturbances had a major impact on how disturbance facilitated the invasion, by jointly determining how much space‐limitation was alleviated and how readily disturbed areas could be reached by dispersing propagules. 5 Synthesis. Both the short‐term experiment and the long‐term model show that S. muticum invasion success is co‐regulated by disturbance and propagule pressure. Our results underscore the importance of considering interactive effects when making predictions about invasion success.