Predicting the impacts of species invasions in aquatic systems

生物入侵是一种破坏性的压力源，在全世界的淡水和海洋系统中变得越来越频繁。我的研究计划的长期目标是对决定入侵物种在水生环境中成功和影响的因素进行预测性理解。我的实验室将在未来五年内进行三项主要研究。我们将研究：(1)入侵物种对社区的影响（如物种灭绝）如何随环境条件的变化而变化；(2)是否可以通过生命史特征来预测入侵物种的成功和影响；(3)在不同的生境类型和空间尺度上，入侵物种的影响是否可预测。这些调查将包括实验研究和对世界各地记录在案的入侵数据的统计分析。在圣劳伦斯河进行的一系列野外实验将调查决定一种主要入侵者被另一种取代的因素。在运河壁上，我们将在多个地点和多个深度清除竞争的欧亚贻贝（斑马贻贝和斑驴贻贝）斑块，随后监测清除斑块的重新定殖模式和随后的物种优势，以及这些模式如何在时间和空间上变化。另一系列实验将在小空间尺度上研究斑马贻贝群落对底栖无脊椎动物多样性的影响。我们还将研究本地和入侵甲壳类动物之间的拮抗相互作用（相互捕食）如何在不同的水化学梯度中变化，从而揭示一个物种或另一个物种占主导地位的条件。最后，利用元分析技术，我们将研究双壳类入侵的全球数据集，以确定是否存在可预测的影响模式，这些模式可能与物种的生活史特征、入侵群落的组成和入侵栖息地的物理特征有关。总之，这些研究的目的是产生有用的概括和预测模型，目前缺乏的水生入侵。

Biological invasions are a disruptive stressor that is becoming increasingly frequent in freshwater and marine systems worldwide.  The longterm goal of my research program is to develop a predictive understanding of the factors that determine the success and impact of invasive species in aquatic environments.  My lab will pursue three major lines of research over the next five years.  We will investigate: (1) how community-level impacts (e.g. extinctions) caused by invasive species vary with environmental conditions; (2) whether the success and impact of an invasive species can be predicted from its life history traits; and (3) whether the impacts of invasive species are predictable across a range of habitat types and spatial scales.  These investigations will involve a combination of experimental studies and statistical analyses of data from documented invasions worldwide.  A series of field experiments in the St. Lawrence River will investigate the factors that determine the replacement of one dominant invader by another. On canal walls, we will clear patches of competing Eurasian mussels (the zebra mussel and the quagga mussel) at multiple sites and across multiple depths, and subsequently monitor patterns of recolonization and subsequent species dominance of cleared patches over time and how these patterns vary temporally and spatially.  Another series of experiments will examine the influence of zebra mussel colonies on the diversity of benthic invertebrates at small spatial scales. We will also investigate how antagonistic interactions (mutual predation) between a native and invasive crustacean vary across water chemistry gradients, so as to reveal the conditions in which one species or the other dominates.  Finally, using meta-analytical techniques, we will examine a global dataset of bivalve invasions to determine if there are predictable patterns of impact that can be related to the life history characteristics of a species, the composition of the invaded community, and the physical characteristics of the invaded habitat.  Together, these studies aim to produce useful generalizations and predictive models that are currently lacking for aquatic invasions.