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- Info
Species invasions and deletions: community effects and responses to climate and habitat change
| Author: |
Lodge, David M. |
| Date: |
1993 |
| Periodical: |
In: Kareiva, P.M.; Kingsolver, J.G.; Huey, R.B., eds. Biotic interactions and global change. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates: |
| Abstract: |
One of humankind\'s greatest influences on the earth\'s biota has been to increase the rate at which species invade non-native habitats, and the rate at which species go extinct at both local and global scales. Biological invasions constitute such a significant ecological problem that several volumes have been devoted to their study in recent years. Range contractions and the elimination of species from communities have received less focused attention. One of the major effects of changes in global climate and habitats will be an acceleration of species invasions, extinctions, and range shifts. Indeed, one of our central concerns regarding global change should be how species ranges and communities will change(Mooney, 1991a,b; Ojima et al., 1991). Thus, if we want to manage human activities and mitigate species extinctions and invasions, we must understand how existing communities respond to invasions and extinctions.
In this chapter, I first review current generalizations about invasions in terrestrial and aquatic habitats and evaluate their usefulness in predicting the occurrence and outcome of specific invasions. Second, I suggest an alternative perspective on invasions that stresses the naturally dynamic ranges of organisms; in this context, species invasions and local extinctions are not unusual events in nature. Third, I present three freshwater examples of species invasions to illustrate how a thorough knowledge of a community can help us anticipate the community rearrangements that may result from global change. One of the three examples includes a modeling approach for exploring the impact of habitat fragmentation on species invasions. Finally, I suggest some questions that might profitably guide future research on the response of ecological communities to global change. |
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