Native drivers of fish life history traits are lost during the invasion process.

Rodolphe E Gozlan ,Andrej Witkowski,Irene Zweimueller,Rafael Miranda,Jiří Musil,Takashi Asaeda,Hugo Verreycken,Teodora Trichkova,Ali Serhan Tarkan,Marine Combe,Yahui Zhao,Elena Tricarico,Eva Záhorská,Emira Cherif,Hamid Reza Esmaeili,Cha-Ho Chang ,To Tran Thi Hong ,Leopoldo J Gómez Zamora ,Meta Povž ,J Robert Britton ,A Weiperth

doi:10.1002/ece3.6521

Abstract

Rapid adaptation to global change can counter vulnerability of species to population declines and extinction. Theoretically, under such circumstances both genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity can maintain population fitness, but empirical support for this is currently limited. Here, we aim to characterize the role of environmental and genetic diversity, and their prior evolutionary history (via haplogroup profiles) in shaping patterns of life history traits during biological invasion. Data were derived from both genetic and life history traits including a morphological analysis of 29 native and invasive populations of topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva coupled with climatic variables from each location. General additive models were constructed to explain distribution of somatic growth rate (SGR) data across native and invasive ranges, with model selection performed using Akaike's information criteria. Genetic and environmental drivers that structured the life history of populations in their native range were less influential in their invasive populations. For some vertebrates at least, fitness‐related trait shifts do not seem to be dependent on the level of genetic diversity or haplogroup makeup of the initial introduced propagule, nor of the availability of local environmental conditions being similar to those experienced in their native range. As long as local conditions are not beyond the species physiological threshold, its local establishment and invasive potential are likely to be determined by local drivers, such as density‐dependent effects linked to resource availability or to local biotic resistance.

Highlights

IntroductionThose predicted in the future, have added urgency to the quest to understand how natural populations respond to such challenges (Rands et al, 2010)
Recent global environmental changes, and those predicted in the future, have added urgency to the quest to understand how natural populations respond to such challenges (Rands et al, 2010)
Under such circumstances both genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity can maintain the fitness of wild populations, but empirical support for this is currently limited due to the challenges involved in investigating the relationship between genetic variation and the role of phenotypic plasticity in maintaining fitness under novel and, often contrasting, environmental conditions (Ouborg, Pertoldi, Loeschcke, Bijlsma, & Hedrick, 2010)

Summary

Introduction

Those predicted in the future, have added urgency to the quest to understand how natural populations respond to such challenges (Rands et al, 2010). A series of stochastic introduction events associated with the colonization process (Gozlan, Andreou, et al, 2010; Gozlan, Britton, Cowx, & Copp, 2010) is predicted to result in strong genetic drift and reduced genetic diversity in invasive populations balanced by epigenetic variations. Such low genetic burden is expected to limit the ability of the introduced species to establish invasive populations (Hanfling, 2007; Kelly, Muirhead, Heath, & Macisaac, 2006; Kolbe et al, 2004; Roman & Darling, 2007; Simon, Britton, Gozlan, van Oosterhout, & Hänfling, 2011). Other studies contradict this and show that low genetic variation has no effect on the invasion success (e.g., Brown & Stepien, 2008; Planes & Lecaillon, 1998; Valiente, Ayllon, Nunez, Juanes, & Vazquez, 2010)

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Discussion

Conclusion