Abstract
Macroecology is the study of patterns, and the processes that determine those patterns, in the distribution and abundance of organisms at large scales, whether they be spatial (from hundreds of kilometres to global), temporal (from decades to centuries), and organismal (numbers of species or higher taxa). In the context of invasion ecology, macroecological studies include, for example, analyses of the richness, diversity, distribution, and abundance of alien species in regional floras and faunas, spatio-temporal dynamics of alien species across regions, and cross-taxonomic analyses of species traits among comparable native and alien species pools. However, macroecological studies aiming to explain and predict plant and animal naturalisations and invasions, and the resulting impacts, have, to date, rarely considered the joint effects of species traits, environment, and socioeconomic characteristics. To address this, we present the MAcroecological Framework for Invasive Aliens (MAFIA). The MAFIA explains the invasion phenomenon using three interacting classes of factors – alien species traits, location characteristics, and factors related to introduction events – and explicitly maps these interactions onto the invasion sequence from transport to naturalisation to invasion. The framework therefore helps both to identify how anthropogenic effects interact with species traits and environmental characteristics to determine observed patterns in alien distribution, abundance, and richness; and to clarify why neglecting anthropogenic effects can generate spurious conclusions. Event-related factors include propagule pressure, colonisation pressure, and residence time that are important for mediating the outcome of invasion processes. However, because of context dependence, they can bias analyses, for example those that seek to elucidate the role of alien species traits. In the same vein, failure to recognise and explicitly incorporate interactions among the main factors impedes our understanding of which macroecological invasion patterns are shaped by the environment, and of the importance of interactions between the species and their environment. The MAFIA is based largely on insights from studies of plants and birds, but we believe it can be applied to all taxa, and hope that it will stimulate comparative research on other groups and environments. By making the biases in macroecological analyses of biological invasions explicit, the MAFIA offers an opportunity to guide assessments of the context dependence of invasions at broad geographical scales.
Highlights
Macroecology as a tool to study biological invasionsInvasive alien species introduced by humans to areas beyond their native distributions (Richardson et al 2000; Blackburn et al 2011) are a major threat to the world’s biodiversity and economy (McGeoch et al 2010; Blackburn et al 2014; Brondizio et al 2019; Pyšek et al 2020)
We address these issues along the stages of the invasion process, from transport and introduction to naturalisation and invasion, with discussion on effects of propagule pressure and climate integrated within these sections
The few available studies that do account for this complexity suggest that the role of species traits is strongly context dependent, and that traits interact with other factors – there is a complex interplay of species’ traits, habitats occupied in both the native and invaded range (Hejda et al 2009, 2015), characteristics of recipient ecosystems and native communities (Catford et al 2019), and human activities in determining invasion in novel environments (Bacon et al 2014)
Summary
Macroecology as a tool to study biological invasionsInvasive alien species introduced by humans to areas beyond their native distributions (Richardson et al 2000; Blackburn et al 2011) are a major threat to the world’s biodiversity and economy (McGeoch et al 2010; Blackburn et al 2014; Brondizio et al 2019; Pyšek et al 2020). Pyšek et al (2009a, 2015) used a source-area approach (as defined by Pyšek et al 2004b) to show that the success of Central-European plant species introduced to other areas of the world results from the interaction of their distribution in the native range, habitats they occupy there, their biological traits, propagule pressure as a consequence of human use, and residence time.
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