Fundamentals of invasive species biology and ecology

Abstract

The impact of invasive species on native species, communities and ecosystems has been widely recognized. There must be some prerequisites for an alien species to invade a new environment, although the research on this aspect is still in a preliminary stage. Firstly, an invasive species must be invasive enough in itself or has some biological distinction, such as quantitative and qualitative differences in the genome, or patterns of recombination. Secondly, to invade successfully, a new environment for an invasive species must be invasible, and this we may call the ecological basis of invasion. An invasive species may need to establish new interactions with other species, especially those mutualistic relations such as animal related pollination, seed dispersal by animals, mycorrhizal fungi, and symbioses between plants and nitrogen fixing bacteria. In this article, we review some advances in research of invasive biology and ecology in order to facilitate relevant research in China and prevent dispersal and expansion of some harmful invasive species.