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: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=709985
• 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的地理区域并随后扩大其范围同时占据新栖息地的非本地物种。 在这一过程中，入侵物种可以取代本地物种，将病原体引入重要的经济物种，改变生态系统过程，破坏人类娱乐场所。 在过去的几十年里，入侵物种的数量一直在稳步增长，现在它们构成了对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，因为它们会大量杀死商业上重要的物种，并共同需要广泛和昂贵的管理和预防计划。 相当多的研究已经解决了生物入侵的许多方面，但我们仍然有一些非常重要的知识空白需要填补。 其中一个例子是，我们对为什么一些引进的（非本地）物种变得具有侵略性，而其他物种要么灭绝，要么保持在非常低的水平，对周围的栖息地几乎没有影响的理解很差。第二个知识差距围绕着入侵物种的社区影响：虽然我们知道入侵物种的总体影响是负面的，但我们并不完全了解它们在不同空间尺度上对生物多样性的影响，或者它们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的栖息地，并且对许多本地物种来说是不够的。 生物入侵的这两个方面--入侵的可能性和影响--在水生系统中特别缺乏研究。 我建议使用相结合的领域，实验和实验室工作来回答以下问题：1）入侵的安大略水生系统的非本地植物取决于环境条件的组合加上本地植物的竞争能力，换句话说，植物更有可能入侵最近改变的地区，本地物种还没有时间适应？2）入侵植物通过减少本地生物多样性和使系统更容易受到其他物种入侵而在多大程度上改变了水生生态系统？ 通过填补这些关键的知识空白，我的研究将帮助管理人员通过优先考虑预防策略应该集中的地点来预防生物入侵，因为这些地点特别容易受到入侵，或者特别可能在入侵后经历广泛的有害影响。 预防是一种比清除既定入侵者更成功的策略，因此，我的研究将为加拿大提供实质性的经济和社会效益。