Dissertation Research: Mechanisms of facilitation among invasive plants and animals

当多种非本地植物和动物被引入同一个新环境时会发生什么？智利的鲁滨逊克鲁索岛是胡安费尔南德斯群岛的一部分，也是联合国教科文组织世界生物圈保护区，这里引进了非本地植物和欧洲兔子。因为这些非本地的兔子和植物同时在同一个地方，它们可能会相互作用，使入侵对本地生态系统更具破坏性。本实验采用大型围栏将兔子排除在草原河谷区域之外，以研究兔子对本地和非本地植物可能产生的多重影响。到目前为止，似乎兔子挖掘和兔子对特定植物物种的偏好是相互作用中最重要的方面，使草地的组成从本地植物转变为非本地植物。由于目前非本地物种的高引进率以及非本地物种对本地生态系统和经济造成的损害，研究入侵生物之间的相互作用至关重要。很少有研究考虑到世界上几乎任何地方都有大量的非本地物种。这项研究的独特方法是研究非本地物种对其他非本地物种的特定影响，这将提高我们对世界范围内生物入侵的理解。

What happens when multiple non-native plants and animals are introduced into the same new environment? On Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile, part of the Juan Fernandez Archipelago and a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, both non-native plants and European rabbits have been introduced. Because these non-native rabbits and plants are in the same place at the same time, they could be interacting, making the invasions more devastating to the native ecosystem. This experiment uses large fences to exclude rabbits from areas of a grassland valley to study the multiple effects rabbits may have on native and non-native plants. Thus far, it seems that rabbit digging and rabbit preference for grazing on specific plant species are the most important aspects of the interaction that is changing the composition of the grassland from native plants to non-native plants. The study of interactions among invasive organisms is critical because of the current high rate of non-native-species introductions and the damage that non-native species cause both to native ecosystems and to the economy. Few studies are being done that take into consideration the high number of non-native species present almost everywhere in the world. This study's unique approach of examining the specific effects of a non-native species on other non-native species will improve our understanding of biological invasions world wide.