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The introduction of non-native populations can lead to the competitive exclusion (displacement) of native populations. This has been hypothesized to be further exacerbated by the potential of hybridization, which can dilute or genetically assimilate the native genotype leaving no``pure'' natives. With relatively moderate to high rates of immigration, the loss of the native species can be rapid with or without hybridization. Using single-locus, two-allele models, I ®nd that species replacement can occur very rapidly and the time to displacement decreases rapidly with increasing immigration and selection dierential. Immigration and selection act in two dierent ways: increasing immigration results in displacement by overwhelming the native; whereas increasing the selection dierential in favor of the invader leads to displacement via genetic assimilation. The implications of these results are the need for more empirical studies on the immigration patterns of invasive species and their potential for interbreeding with natives. #

In nature, fluxes across habitats often bring both nutrient and energetic resources into areas of low productivity from areas of higher productivity. These inputs can alter consumption rates of consumer and predator species in the recipient food webs, thereby influencing food web stability. Starting from a well-studied tritrophic food chain model, we investigated the impact of allochthonous inputs on the stability of a simple food web model. We considered the effects of allochthonous inputs on stability of the model using four sets of biologically plausible parameters that represent different dynamical outcomes. We found that low levels of allochthonous inputs stabilize food web dynamics when species preferentially feed on the autochthonous sources, while either increasing the input level or changing the feeding preference to favor allochthonous inputs, or both, led to a decoupling of the food chain that could result in the loss of one or all species. We argue that allochthonous inputs are important sources of productivity in many food webs and their influence needs to be studied further. This is especially important in the various systems, such as caves, headwater streams, and some small marine islands, in which more energy enters the food web from allochthonous inputs than from autochthonous inputs.

A rich body of theoretical literature now exists focused on the three-species module of intraguild predation (IGP), in which a top predator both attacks and competes with an intermediate predator. Simple models of intraguild predation are often unstable, either because one consumer is excluded, or because sustained oscillations emerge from long feedback loops. Yet, many natural IGP systems robustly persist. Standard models of intraguild predation simplify natural systems in crucial ways that could influence persistence; in particular, many empirical IGP systems are embedded in communities with alternative prey species. We briefly review the key conclusions of standard three-species IGP theory, and then present results of theoretical explorations of how alternative prey can influence the persistence and stability of a focal intraguild predation interaction.