A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02548-x

Aquatic invasive species are damaging to native ecosystems. Preventing their spread and achieving comprehensive control measures requires an understanding of the genetic structure of an invasive population. Organellar genomes (plastid and mitochondrial) are useful for population level analyses of invasive plant distributions. In this study we generate complete organellar reference genomes using PacBio

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

Establishment of new populations is contingent on overcoming abiotic and biotic barriers. While this applies to all species, these hurdles are at the forefront of invasion biology where prediction, prevention, eradication, and control strategies depend on an understanding of these processes. Terrestrial Arundina graminifolia and epiphytic Dendrobium crumenatum are two non-indigenous orchids spreading

Species invasions contribute to global environmental change and cause declines in populations of threatened and endangered species. Significant government funds are expended on invasive species management (ISM) actions each year. Public support and compliance are critical to the success of these actions. We conducted a study to assess determinants of the general public’s support for ISM actions to

The invasion of jumping worms, a small group of pheretimoid earthworm species from Asia, has increasingly become an ecological, environmental and conservation issue in forest ecosystems and urban-suburban landscapes around the world. Their presence is often noticed due to their high abundance, distinctive “jumping” behavior, and prominent granular casts on the soil surface. Although they are known

Interspecific facilitation is a widely recognized process structuring natural communities. Benthic invertebrates are known to facilitate other invertebrates but how the former affect macroalgae has been rarely investigated. In the present study we explore some of the mechanisms underpinning the facilitation of the kelp Undaria pinnatifida by the solitary ascidian Styela clava, two species introduced

Geographical variation in abiotic and biotic conditions can significantly affect the rate that an invasive species expands its range. The colonisation of Australia by cane toads (Rhinella marina) has attracted extensive research, but mostly in tropical regions rather than cooler climatic zones. We assembled multiple datasets to characterise the historical spread of toads at their southern (cool-climate)

Effective natural resource management and policy is contingent on information generated by research. Conversely, the applicability of research depends on whether it is responsive to the needs and constraints of resource managers and policy makers. However, many scientific fields including invasion ecology suffer from a disconnect between research and practice. Despite strong socio-political imperatives

Herbarium records provide comprehensive information on plant distribution, offering opportunities to construct invasion curves of introduced species, estimate their rates and patterns of expansions in novel ranges, as well as identifying lag times and hence “sleeper weeds”, if any. Lag times especially have rarely been determined for many introduced species, including weeds in the State of Queensland

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02578-5

The invasion of the northwestern Atlantic by the Indo-Pacific lionfish has developed extraordinarily fast. In less than 30 years, lionfish have dramatically expanded their distribution range to an area encompassing the eastern coast of the USA, Bermuda, the entire Caribbean region and the Gulf of Mexico. Until now, just a single sighting had been reported in the South Atlantic and it was questionable

Rhithropanopeus harrisii are small, estuarine crabs native to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. They have become an invasive species, establishing populations on the west coast of the United States, Europe, Panama, and Japan. Reproducing populations are also established in freshwater reservoirs in Texas and on the Texas/Oklahoma border. In order to compare levels of genetic diversity within

We report the introduction of the central and eastern European helicid land snail Caucasotachea vindobonensis in North America. It was first recorded from Rensselaer County in the state of New York in 2015 by a community scientist. From 2016 to 2020, 14 additional occurrences in Rensselaer County, neighbouring Albany County and an imprecisely localized site in the Adirondack Mountains were recorded

Early detection of invasive species allows for a more rapid and effective response. Restoration of the native ecosystem after an invasive population has established is expensive and difficult but more likely to succeed when invasions are detected early in the invasion process. Containment efforts to prevent the spread of known invasions also benefit from earlier knowledge of invaded sites. Environmental

Genetic introgression with native species is recognized as a detrimental impact resulting from biological invasions involving taxonomically similar invaders. Whilst the underlying genetic mechanisms are increasingly understood, the ecological consequences of introgression are relatively less studied, despite their utility for increasing knowledge on how invasion impacts can manifest. Here, the ecological

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-021-02499-3

Top-down and bottom-up factors affecting invasive populations are rarely considered simultaneously, yet their interactive responses to disturbances and management interventions can be essential to understanding invasion patterns. We evaluated post-fire responses of the exotic perennial forb Chondrilla juncea (rush skeletonweed) and its biocontrol agents to landscape factors and a post-fire combined

Connectivity between waterbodies influences the risk of aquatic invasive species (AIS) invasion. Understanding and characterizing the connectivity between waterbodies through high-risk pathways, such as recreational boats, is essential to develop economical and effective prevention intervention to control the spread of AIS. Fortunately, state and local watercraft inspection programs are collecting

We are facing a global loss of biodiversity due to climate change. This will lead to unpredictable changes in ecosystems, affecting the goods and services they provide introduction of non-indigenous marine species. This represents one of the major threats to marine biodiversity and therefore, there is a strong need to assess, map and monitor these alien species. The appearance of non-indigenous species

As a non-native species invades a new region, individuals at the range front are often characterised by differences in their traits and behaviours versus individuals in the established ‘core’ area. Here, differences in life history traits of invading pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus were assessed across a fine spatial scale in the Sarıçay Stream, Turkey, with seven locations sampled between their core

Invasive alien species (IAS) are the major cause of native species extinctions on islands worldwide. To mitigate or eliminate IAS impacts, eradication is often the best alternative. However, IAS removal may result in cascading effects, through increase in prey abundance, mesopredator release, or competitor release. Our objective is to determine which ecological processes may influence the relative

Some fern species are among the world’s worst weeds, but little is known about the establishment of alien ferns in relatively conserved ecosystems. Exotic species may outperform native ones during germination and facilitate invasion into new environments. Macrothelypteris torresiana is an Asian fern species that was introduced and spread throughout multiple areas of tropical America. We tested the

Compiled inventories with information on the distribution, status and impacts of invasive alien species are essential for the study, management and monitoring of biological invasions. Despite their great importance, such studies are lacking for alien freshwater fish species in Brazil. Therefore, our aim was to improve the knowledge of the regional richness of alien species, leading to the closing of

The potential of an alien plant to spread rapidly and colonize new habitat may be related to the mode of reproduction and the ability to attract pollinators. Most studies focus on widespread invasive plants, in which pollinators are rarely limiting. Here, we assess the ability of a recent invader in South Africa, the tristylous Lythrum salicaria to self-reproduce and whether this can explain the delay

Forests in eastern North America are experiencing high densities of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and encroachment by invasive plants, both of which threaten native biodiversity. We review the literature on deer and invasive plant impacts focusing on studies that simultaneously evaluate the consequences of both. Deer have more frequent and more consistently negative effects than invasive

Assessing the impacts of alien plant species is scientifically important and critical for supporting invasion-related policies. Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) and Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) are standardized schemes to evaluate, compare, and eventually predict the magnitudes of the variety of impacts invasive species can have. Here, we apply these two systems to

Dead neonatal mice are currently used as bait for delivery of toxin to invasive brown treesnakes (Boiga irregularis) on Guam; once deployed in the field the mice are highly attractive to the snakes but only for about four days. An artificial bait containing a mixture of fats mimicking those in skin of the mice is also highly attractive to the snakes and remains attractive 2–3 times longer. The artificial

Abiotic conditions can influence the effect that herbivores have on plant growth. Such biotic and abiotic interactions are of special interest in plant biological control programs because the goal of herbivore suppression of the target weed may not be reached in some abiotic settings. Additionally, target invasive plants typically occur across diverse landscapes raising the possibility that local adaptation

The rapid stem elongation of the invasive weed Mikania micrantha in the forest understory is of vital significance for its successful invasion. To understand the physiological and molecular mechanisms for this process, here we comparatively investigated the physiological characteristics and transcriptome patterns of M. micrantha stem under low light (30%) and full light (100%) conditions. The results

Allelochemicals released by exotic plants can affect neighboring plants. In this study, we examined the effects of leachate extracted from shoots of an invasive clonal plant (Wedelia trilobata) on its own growth and performance, and that of its native congener (W. chinensis). Leachate from W. trilobata was prepared at concentrations of 0, 50, 75, and 100% and was applied to both Wedelia species (which

Considering that emerging infectious diseases are one of the major drivers of global amphibian decline, controlling the spread of infections are even more challenging. Amphibian skin disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by two species of fungi belonging to the Batrachochytrium genus, has been detected in at least 700 amphibian species causing mass mortalities in all continents where amphibians

The Greater Everglades Ecosystem is a globally important ecoregion, home to 68 threatened or endangered species and the largest designated wilderness area in the Eastern United States. Anthropogenic manipulations of the natural hydrology have led to widespread degradation of this ecosystem and monitored population declines across multiple taxa. Simultaneous introductions of hundreds of non-native species

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, is a major threat to citrus production worldwide, as it transmits ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’, the pathogen associated with the devastating Asian form of huanglongbing. The psyllid has spread widely from its native South Asia during the past 300 years, most recently to Africa. We report the first population genomic analyses of D. citri in Kenya and

Invasive species are a global threat to ecosystem biodiversity and function; non-native grass invasion has been particularly problematic in sparsely vegetated ecosystems such as open dunes. Native plant population responses to invasion, however, are infrequently translated to landscape scales, limiting the effectiveness of these data for addressing conservation issues. We quantified population density

Levels of plant invasions in different habitat types were assessed in several regional studies, but few of them were from the Mediterranean. Here we compare the levels of vascular plant invasion across habitats and plant communities of Sicily. We used a large dataset of plant species presences/absences in vegetation plots to analyze the invasion patterns across habitats considering biogeography, life

Oystershell scale (OSS; Lepidosaphes ulmi) is an emerging invasive insect that poses a serious threat to conservation of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the southwestern US. Although OSS has been an urban pest in the US since the 1700s, it has recently spread into natural aspen stands in northern Arizona, where outbreaks are causing dieback and mortality. We quantified the ongoing outbreak of

The novel-weapons and homeland-security hypotheses are based on the idea that aliens and natives are not adapted to each other’s allelochemicals as they did not co-evolve. However, as only a few studies have tested this, it remains unclear how important co-evolutionary history is in determining the strength of allelopathic interactions between aliens and natives. Here, we tested for potential pairwise

Understanding the mechanisms of biological invasion is fundamental for biodiversity conservation in the Anthropocene. This study focused on a large-scale colonization pattern of exotic seed plants, which include 1094 species characterized by different geographical origins, into the insular flora of Japan. We investigated a nation-wide pattern of species richness and phylogenetic structure (cluster

How do invasive species change native biodiversity? One reason why this long-standing question remains challenging to answer could be because the main focus of the invasion literature has been on shifts in species richness (a measure of α-diversity). As the underlying components of community structure—intraspecific aggregation, interspecific density and the species abundance distribution (SAD)—are

The presence of hybrid genotypes resulting from the mating of native and invasive species poses numerous problems to invasive species managers, including initial difficulty in hybrid detection, unpredictable ecological impacts to recipient ecosystems, and variability in response to management actions. We conducted a molecular study of internal transcribed spacer sequences to determine whether hybridization

The post-invasion success of alien plant species is determined by many biotic and abiotic factors, but no study has tested the interactive effect of nutrient availability, fluctuating nutrient supply and parasitic plants. Testing this effect is important because parasitic plants are proposed as a promising agent for biocontrol of alien plant invasions. We constructed an experimental native community

Because naturalized and invasive plant species have disproportionately smaller genome sizes compared to all angiosperms, genome size has been proposed as a general predictor of invasiveness. The family Cactaceae includes some of the most important invasive species worldwide, and it is one of the plant families with lowest number of genome size estimations. The main goal of this study was to explore

Invasive alien species can negatively impact on newly colonised ecosystems. Thus, it is important to understand factors that facilitate invasiveness. Genetic diversity will enable a species to exploit a variety of environmental conditions. Yet, the process of dispersal to a new ecosystem will commonly create a genetic bottleneck and, hence, result in low diversity. Here we explored variability at genetic

Invasive species may act as a functional filter on native communities by differentially affecting species with different trait values. Across environments, invasive plants typically display traits associated with high resource acquisition and fast growth. Conversely, native plants, especially those in water-limited environments, tend to adopt one of two functional strategies: fast growth during high

The small Indian mongoose has been introduced into several important hotspots of biodiversity and is considered the wild carnivore with the greatest negative impact on autochthonous ecosystems. Understanding the introduction and dispersal history of the species is crucial in any effort to conserve global biodiversity. We investigated the genetic structure and diversity of the small Indian mongoose

Phenotypic plasticity is an essential mechanism by which plants respond to changes in their environment, but our understanding of the evolution of plasticity is still limited. Comparing plasticity of introduced alien species across native and introduced provenances can indicate potential evolution of adaptive plasticity. We examined reaction norms across an experimental soil moisture gradient for native

Biological invasions are a global threat to biodiversity especially for aquatic resources. The distribution of alien species is associated with human activities; therefore, exotic species tend to accumulate near big urban areas through different invasion vectors such as ballast water, hull fouling, aquarium and pet releases. The Rhine River region is one of the most economically important in Europe

The spread of alien species with the expansion of road networks and increasing traffic is a well-known phenomenon globally. Besides their corridor effects, road maintenance practices, such as the use of de-icing salts during winter facilitate the spread of halophyte (salt tolerant) species along roads. A good example is Plantago coronopus, a mainly coastal halophyte which has started spreading inland

Niche conservatism explains biological invasions worldwide. However, a plethora of ecological processes may lead invasive species to occupy environments that are different from those found within native ranges. Here, we assess the potential invadable areas of the world’s most pervasive invasive amphibians: the cane toad, Rhinella marina + R. horribilis, and the North American bullfrog, Lithobates catesbeianus

Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is an invasive alien plant species that is spreading rapidly all over the world. With globalization and climate change, it will continue to spread, posing threats to agriculture, biodiversity and the environment. To determine its invasion and impacts in Bhutan, an investigation was undertaken in West-Central Bhutan using a questionnaire survey, complemented

Invasive populations of green iguanas (Iguanidae: Iguana iguana) are widely established beyond their native Central, South American, and Lesser Antillean range in various islands of the Pacific, Florida USA, and in the Greater Caribbean Region. Although widespread, information about these invasions is scarce. Here we determine the origin of invasive populations of green iguanas in Puerto Rico, Fiji

Focusing on extreme climatic events in India’s Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot, we demonstrate that unmanaged aquaculture and unregulated fisheries can often combine with ECE in exacerbating biological invasions through the unexpected introduction and escape of novel alien species. High magnitude flooding events in August 2018 and 2019 resulted in the escape of at least ten alien fish species that

Alien species in urban areas have a large effect on overall species diversity. A suitable metric of flora’s response to environmental change is functional diversity (FD) that refers to the multivariate space of species’ trait compositions, reflecting their ecological niches. We studied how FD changed over 320 years of urbanization in the city of Halle (Saale), Germany. Selected functional traits (related

Biotic mixing, where introduced and native species mix into a newly formed ecosystem, is an increasing phenomenon worldwide. It particularly affects islands, where the number of introduced plants often exceeds native ones, and where invasive alien species are one of the main threats to terrestrial biodiversity. The mangrove tree species Rhizophora stylosa, first introduced in French Polynesia (South

Non-native species can facilitate other non-native species via their effects on the physical environment. Here, I evaluate whether the ice plant, Carpobrotus edulis, prompts increased densities and grazing impacts of the white garden snail, Theba pisana, in coastal dunes of the Argentinean Pampas, where both species are non-native. Snail densities were higher in ice plant patches than in native graminoid

The question of how to program the removal of two invasive mammals, typically cats and rats, from a marine island without increasing risk to native prey species has received two general answers based on ecological theory: removal of cats must be accompanied by control of their mesopredator prey, and risk is minimized by removing both invaders simultaneously. Nonetheless, a 31-year study showed that

Crowdsourcing can be a useful tool for the early detection of invasive species. Invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) have been reported in Ontario, Canada. We compared trends in reporting frequency of wild pig sightings to trends in media events that included directions for the public on where to submit their wild pig sightings. We found that media events occurring on the same week, and in up to two weeks

Okinawa Island, Japan, is a globally important biodiversity hotspot. Three endemic bird species, Okinawa rail (Hypotaenidia okinawae), Okinawa woodpecker (Dendrocopos noguchii), and Okinawa robin (Larvivora namiyei), are found only in the Yambaru region of the northern part of Okinawa Island. In order to conserve endemic species, it is important to determine the effect of alien species on endemic species

Invasive species can significantly impact native wildlife by structurally altering habitats and access to resources. Understanding how native species respond to habitat modification by invasive species can inform effective habitat restoration, avoiding inadvertent harm to species at risk. The invasive graminoids Phragmites australis australis (hereafter Phragmites) and Typha ×  glauca are increasingly