Predicting the impacts of species invasions in aquatic systems

生物入侵是一种破坏性的压力源，在世界各地的淡水和海洋系统中越来越频繁。 我的研究计划的长期目标是发展的因素，决定入侵物种在水生环境中的成功和影响的预测性理解。 我的实验室将在未来五年内进行三项主要研究。 我们将调查：（1）入侵物种对社区的影响（如生态破坏）如何随环境条件而变化;（2）入侵物种的成功和影响是否可以从其生活史特征中预测;以及（3）入侵物种的影响是否可以在一系列生境类型和空间尺度上预测。 这些调查将包括实验研究和对全世界记录在案的入侵数据的统计分析。 在圣劳伦斯河进行的一系列实地实验将调查决定一种主要入侵者被另一种入侵者取代的因素。在运河壁上，我们将在多个地点和多个深度清除竞争欧亚贻贝（斑马贻贝和斑驴贻贝）的斑块，随后监测随着时间的推移清除斑块的生物多样性和随后的物种优势的模式，以及这些模式在时间和空间上的变化。 另一系列实验将研究斑马贻贝群体对小空间尺度底栖无脊椎动物多样性的影响。我们还将研究本地和入侵甲壳类动物之间的拮抗作用（相互捕食）如何在水化学梯度中变化，以揭示一个物种或另一个物种占主导地位的条件。 最后，使用元分析技术，我们将检查一个全球数据集的双壳类入侵，以确定是否有可预测的模式的影响，可以与一个物种的生活史特征，入侵社区的组成，和入侵栖息地的物理特性。 总之，这些研究的目的是产生有用的概括和预测模型，目前缺乏水生入侵。

Biological invasions are a disruptive stressor that is becoming increasingly frequent in freshwater and marine systems worldwide. The longterm goal of my research program is to develop a predictive understanding of the factors that determine the success and impact of invasive species in aquatic environments. My lab will pursue three major lines of research over the next five years. We will investigate: (1) how community-level impacts (e.g. extinctions) caused by invasive species vary with environmental conditions; (2) whether the success and impact of an invasive species can be predicted from its life history traits; and (3) whether the impacts of invasive species are predictable across a range of habitat types and spatial scales. These investigations will involve a combination of experimental studies and statistical analyses of data from documented invasions worldwide. A series of field experiments in the St. Lawrence River will investigate the factors that determine the replacement of one dominant invader by another. On canal walls, we will clear patches of competing Eurasian mussels (the zebra mussel and the quagga mussel) at multiple sites and across multiple depths, and subsequently monitor patterns of recolonization and subsequent species dominance of cleared patches over time and how these patterns vary temporally and spatially. Another series of experiments will examine the influence of zebra mussel colonies on the diversity of benthic invertebrates at small spatial scales. We will also investigate how antagonistic interactions (mutual predation) between a native and invasive crustacean vary across water chemistry gradients, so as to reveal the conditions in which one species or the other dominates. Finally, using meta-analytical techniques, we will examine a global dataset of bivalve invasions to determine if there are predictable patterns of impact that can be related to the life history characteristics of a species, the composition of the invaded community, and the physical characteristics of the invaded habitat. Together, these studies aim to produce useful generalizations and predictive models that are currently lacking for aquatic invasions.