Biological Invasions ( IF 2.9 ) Pub Date : 2021-07-12 , DOI: 10.1007/s10530-021-02593-6 Monica A. Mowery 1 , Andrew C. Mason 1 , Maydianne C. B. Andrade 1 , Cor Vink 2
Invasive species are common around the world, but we still do not know which traits are most important for successfully establishing in new environments. Different stages of the invasion process, including transport, introduction, establishment, and spread, can act as selective filters for different combinations of phenotypic traits. Theoretical and empirical studies predict that invasive populations should have suites of behaviours that improve dispersal and spread, including higher boldness, dispersal propensity, and activity levels than native populations. In this study, we tested these predictions by comparing the morphology, life history, and behaviour of an invasive population of redback spiders, Latrodectus hasselti, from Japan to a population of native spiders from Australia, with additional comparisons of another invasive population from New Zealand. We found that both a longer-established invasive New Zealand population and the more recently-established invasive population from Japan were more dispersive than the native population from Australia. The invasive population from Japan showed elevated levels of sibling cannibalism relative to the native population, which may increase total reproductive success of females under food limitation. Spiders from Japan were also less bold in response to a simulated predator threat compared to native spiders from Australia. In contrast to the prediction that invasive populations would show uniformly fast life history traits, the invasive population from Japan was more fecund, yet took longer to develop than the native population under laboratory conditions. Overall, our results show that invasive populations are phenotypically distinct from native populations, with some behavioural, life history, and morphological traits that would increase spread (dispersal tendency, high fecundity) and persistence (sibling cannibalism) in new habitats.
中文翻译:
侵入性传播期间的行为、形态和生活史发生变化
入侵物种在世界各地都很常见,但我们仍然不知道哪些特征对于在新环境中成功建立最重要。入侵过程的不同阶段,包括运输、引入、建立和传播,可以作为不同表型性状组合的选择性过滤器。理论和实证研究预测,入侵种群应该具有一系列改善扩散和传播的行为,包括比本地种群更高的胆量、扩散倾向和活动水平。在这项研究中,我们通过比较入侵的红背蜘蛛Latrodectus hasselti种群的形态、生活史和行为来测试这些预测,从日本到澳大利亚的本地蜘蛛种群,并与来自新西兰的另一种入侵种群进行了额外的比较。我们发现,与来自澳大利亚的本地人口相比,历史悠久的新西兰入侵人口和最近建立的来自日本的入侵人口更加分散。与本地人口相比,来自日本的入侵种群显示出更高水平的同胞同类相食,这可能会增加女性在食物限制下的总繁殖成功率。与来自澳大利亚的本地蜘蛛相比,来自日本的蜘蛛对模拟捕食者威胁的反应也不那么大胆。与入侵种群将表现出一致的快速生活史特征的预测相反,来自日本的入侵种群更加肥沃,然而,在实验室条件下,比本地种群需要更长的时间来发育。总体而言,我们的研究结果表明,入侵种群在表型上与本地种群不同,具有一些行为、生活史和形态特征,这些特征会增加在新栖息地的传播(分散趋势、高繁殖力)和持久性(同胞同类相食)。