Facilitators and outcomes of biological invasions by aquatic macrophytes

水生大型植物生物入侵的促进因素和后果

• 批准号: RGPIN-2017-04371
• 负责人: Freeland, Joanna
• 金额: $ 2.4万
• 依托单位: Trent University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=684715
• 关键词: Facilitators; outcomes; biological; invasions; aquatic

Invasive species are non-native species that were introduced into a new geographical region and subsequently expanded their range while dominating new habitat. During this process, invasive species can displace native species, introduce pathogens to economically important species, alter ecosystem processes, and disrupt sites of human recreation. The numbers of invasive species have been steadily growing over the last few decades, and now they now comprise one of the biggest threats to ecosystems and biodiversity around the world. Furthermore, invasive species incur tremendous economic cost because they can decimate commercially important species, and collectively require extensive and costly management and prevention programs. ******Considerable research has addressed many aspects of biological invasions, but we still have a number of very important knowledge gaps that need to be filled. One example of this is our poor understanding of why some introduced (non-native) species become invasive, while others either go extinct or are maintained at very low levels with little to no impact on their surrounding habitat. A second knowledge gap surrounds the community effects of invasive species: although we know that the overall impact of invasive species is negative, we don't fully understand their effects on biodiversity across different spatial scales or their impacts on different types of habitat, e.g. whether they are most likely to invade habitat that has already deteriorated and is inadequate for many native species. These two aspects of biological invasions the likelihood and the effects of invasions - are particularly understudied in aquatic systems. I propose using a combination of field, experimental and lab work to answer the following questions: 1) Do invasions of Ontario aquatic systems by non-native plants depend on a combination of environmental conditions plus the competitive ability of native plants, in other words are plants more likely to invade recently altered areas to which native species have not had time to adapt? and 2) To what extent do invasive plants alter aquatic ecosystems by reducing native biodiversity and leaving systems more susceptible to invasions by additional species? By filling in some of these critical knowledge gaps, my research will help managers to prevent biological invasions by prioritizing sites where prevention strategies should be focused, either because those sites are particularly vulnerable to invasions, or are particularly likely to experience extensive deleterious effects following invasions. Prevention is a far more successful strategy than the removal of established invasives, and my research will therefore provide substantial economic and social benefits to Canada.**

入侵物种是被引入新地理区域并随后扩大其范围并同时占据新栖息地的非本地物种。 在此过程中，入侵物种可以取代本地物种，将病原体引入经济上重要的物种，改变生态系统过程，并破坏人类娱乐场所。 过去几十年来，入侵物种的数量一直在稳步增长，现在它们已成为世界各地生态系统和生物多样性的最大威胁之一。 此外，入侵物种会造成巨大的经济成本，因为它们会大量消灭具有重要商业价值的物种，并且需要广泛而昂贵的管理和预防计划。 ******大量研究已经解决了生物入侵的许多方面，但我们仍然有许多非常重要的知识空白需要填补。 这方面的一个例子是，我们对为什么一些引进的（非本地）物种变得具有入侵性，而另一些物种要么灭绝，要么维持在非常低的水平，而对其周围的栖息地几乎没有影响，我们知之甚少。第二个知识差距围绕入侵物种的群落影响：尽管我们知道入侵物种的总体影响是负面的，但我们并没有完全了解它们对不同空间尺度的生物多样性的影响或对不同类型栖息地的影响，例如，它们是否最有可能入侵已经恶化且不适合许多本地物种生存的栖息地。 生物入侵的这两个方面——入侵的可能性和影响——在水生系统中尤其没有得到充分研究。 我建议结合实地、实验和实验室工作来回答以下问题：1）非本地植物对安大略省水生系统的入侵是否取决于环境条件加上本地植物的竞争能力的组合，换句话说，植物是否更有可能入侵本地物种还没有时间适应的最近发生变化的地区？ 2) 入侵植物在多大程度上通过减少本地生物多样性并使系统更容易受到其他物种的入侵而改变水生生态系统？ 通过填补其中一些关键的知识空白，我的研究将帮助管理者通过优先考虑预防策略应重点关注的地点来防止生物入侵，因为这些地点特别容易受到入侵，或者特别有可能在入侵后遭受广泛的有害影响。 预防是比消除已确定的入侵物更成功的策略，因此我的研究将为加拿大带来巨大的经济和社会效益。**