To successfully colonize new habitats, organisms not only need to gain access to it, they also need to cope with the selective pressures imposed by the local biotic and abiotic conditions. The number of immigrants, the preadaptation to the local habitat and the presence of competitors are important factors determining the success of colonization. Here, using two experimental set‐ups, we studied the effect of interspecific competition in combination with propagule pressure and preadaptation on the colonization success of new habitats. Our model system consisted of tomato plants (the novel habitat), the two‐spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae as our focal species and the red spider mite Tetranychus evansi as a competitor. Our results show that propagule pressure and preadaptation positively affect colonization success. More successful populations reach larger final population sizes either by having higher per capita growth rates (due to preadaptation effects) or by starting a population with a larger number of individuals. Although populations are more successful colonizing non‐competitive environments than competitive ones, propagule pressure and preadaptation counteract the negative effects of competition, promoting colonization success. Our study shows the importance of propagule pressure and preadaptation for successful colonization of new habitats by providing the ability to cope with both the exigencies of new environments and the community context.

中文翻译：

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适应，繁殖压力和竞争在新栖息地定殖中的作用

为了成功地定居新的栖息地，生物不仅需要获得其栖息地的机会，还需要应对当地生物和非生物条件所施加的选择压力。移民的数量，对当地栖息地的适应以及竞争者的存在是决定殖民成功与否的重要因素。在这里，我们使用两个实验设置，研究了种间竞争与繁殖压力和预适应相结合对新生境定植成功的影响。我们的模型系统由番茄植物（新颖的栖息地），两斑叶螨Tetranychus urticae作为我们的重点物种和红叶螨Tetranychus evansi组成。作为竞争对手。我们的结果表明，繁殖压力和预适应对定殖成功有积极影响。成功的人群可以通过提高人均增长率（由于适应前的影响）来达到更大的最终人群规模，也可以通过以更多的人作为初始人群来达到。尽管种群在非竞争性环境中比竞争性环境更成功，但繁殖力和适应能力抵消了竞争的负面影响，从而促进了殖民化的成功。我们的研究表明，通过提供应对新环境和社区环境的能力，繁殖压力和适应能力对于成功定居新栖息地的重要性。