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

生物入侵被认为是对自然群落和生物多样性的最大威胁之一。生物入侵研究中的一个核心问题是：入侵物种是否具有某些共同的属性，这些属性有助于它们的成功，而其他物种却失败了？尽管这个问题很重要，但很少有实证研究系统地测试了潜在的重要性状或性状组合，特别是在水生系统中。为了解决入侵性的变异，研究密切相关和形态相似的分类群应该允许识别相关性状。一个很好的系统是冈比亚鱼，其中地理范围和入侵性的差异是极端的。关键的生态、生活史和行为特征的差异可能解释了冈比亚种之间所观察到的入侵性差异。我们建议研究入侵和非入侵冈比亚物种在以下方面的差异：(1)生命史对非生物应激的反应，(2)种群对生物应激的反应，(3)群落功能，(4)攻击水平，(5)扩散模式。我们期望这项工作与我们之前的实验相结合，将提供有价值的见解，以了解哪些关键的物种特异性特征提高了物种入侵新群落的成功概率。

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.