What makes outbreaks break out? The ecology and evolution of native and non-native superabundance

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When an individual species becomes much more abundant than it used to be or than other similar species, it can have serious detrimental effects on ecosystems and human economies. Such superabundance can result from a species being newly introduced to an ecosystem (e.g., the zebra mussels in the Great Lakes) or from important changes to an ecosystem or the abiotic environment (e.g., the mountain pine beetle in western North America, a native species that has become superabundant as a result of a combination of warmer winters, even-aged stands of trees, and other factors). These native and non-native superabundant species are especially problematic in economies that depend upon natural resources, like British Columbia. For example, non-native species cost Canada ~$187 million each year in direct impacts on agriculture, fisheries, and forestry, and $13.3 - $34.5 billion in indirect costs (e.g., reduced yield of natural resources). And when pathogens like Lyme disease-causing Borrelia burgdorferi become superabundant-often because of the superabundance of host species, such as deer mice-they can cause many people to become sick. Yet we have a very limited understanding of the general causes of superabundance, in part because we lack good information regarding the patterns of abundance for species across time and space.