Dissertation Research: Key Traits Underlying Invasion Success: A Comparison of Gambusia Species

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Biological invasions are recognized to be one of the greatest threats to naturalcommunities and biodiversity. A central question in the study of biological invasions is: Doinvasive species have certain attributes in common that contribute to their success while othersfail? Despite the importance of this issue, few empirical studies have systematically testedpotentially important traits or trait combinations, especially in aquatic systems. To addressvariation in invasiveness, studying closely related and morphologically similar taxa should allowus to identify relevant traits. A good system is the poeciliid fish Gambusia, where the differencesin geographic range and invasiveness are extreme. Differences in key ecological, life history, andbehavioral traits might account for the observed variation in invasiveness among Gambusiaspecies. We propose to examine how invasive and noninvasive Gambusia species might differ intheir: (1) life history responses to abiotic stress, (2) population-level responses to biotic stress,(3) community function, (4) aggression levels, and (5) dispersal patterns. We expect that theproposed work in combination with our previous experiments will provide valuable insights intowhich key species-specific traits enhance the probability of success of species invading novelcommunities.