Ecological and evolutionary consequences of coastal invasions

Grosholz, Edwin D.

doi:10.1016/s0169-5347(01)02358-8

Cited by 590 publications

(395 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Adding to this relatively new focus, our work demonstrates another unforeseen consequence of human-mediated invasions (Grosholz 2002). When native top predators and intermediate consumers are replaced with invasive species, biological invasions can dramatically alter food webs by disrupting trophic cascades.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Invasive species cause large-scale loss of native California oyster habitat by disrupting trophic cascades

et al. 2009

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Although invasive species often resemble their native counterparts, diVerences in their foraging and antipredator strategies may disrupt native food webs. In a California estuary, we showed that regions dominated by native crabs and native whelks have low mortality of native oysters (the basal prey), while regions dominated by invasive crabs and invasive whelks have high oyster mortality and are consequently losing a biologically diverse habitat.Using Weld experiments, we demonstrated that the invasive whelk's distribution is causally related to a large-scale pattern of oyster mortality. To determine whether predatorprey interactions between crabs (top predators) and whelks (intermediate consumers) indirectly control the pattern of oyster mortality, we manipulated the presence and invasion status of the intermediate and top trophic levels in laboratory mesocosms. Our results show that native crabs indirectly maintain a portion of the estuary's oyster habitat by both consuming native whelks (density-mediated trophic cascade) and altering their foraging behavior (trait-mediated trophic cascade). In contrast, invasive whelks are naive to crab predators and fail to avoid them, thereby inhibiting trait-mediated cascades and their invasion into areas with native crabs. Similarly, when native crabs are replaced with invasive crabs, the naive foraging strategy and smaller size of invasive crabs prevents them from eYciently consuming adult whelks, thereby inhibiting strong density-mediated cascades. Thus, while trophic cascades allow native crabs, whelks, and oysters to locally co-exist, the replacement of native crabs and whelks by functionally similar invasive species results in severe depletion of native oysters. As 123 coastal systems become increasingly invaded, the mismatch of evolutionarily based strategies among predators and prey may lead to further losses of critical habitat that support marine biodiversity and ecosystem function.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Invasive species cause large-scale loss of native California oyster habitat by disrupting trophic cascades

et al. 2009

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“…2000;Bertness et al . 2002;Grosholz 2002). Investigations quantifying the patterns of spread and impacts of species invasions have revealed that invaders may alter the abiotic and biotic environment, ecological interactions among species and the functioning of ecosystems, frequently resulting in the exclusion of native species (D'Antonio & Vitousek 1992;Mack et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of exclusion of native coastal marsh plants by an invasive grass

Minchinton¹,

2006

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Summary 1Determining the mechanisms by which invasive species exclude natives is critical for conserving and restoring native populations in impacted habitats. In recent decades the grass Phragmites australis has been aggressively invading coastal marshes of North America, with monocultures often replacing diverse assemblages of plants. 2 Our objective was to quantify how P. australis modifies the abiotic (soil and light conditions) and biotic (litter and shoots) environment and to determine the mechanisms by which it excludes two common forbs, the annual chenopod Atriplex patula var. hastata and the perennial aster Solidago sempervirens , from the highest tidal elevations of a brackish marsh in southern New England, USA. 3 In a 3-year field experiment we added seeds of both forb species to stands of P. australis , where we manipulated shoots and litter in an orthogonal design, and to uninvaded marsh areas dominated by the rush Juncus gerardi , where we manipulated the shoots of the marsh vegetation. In general, seedling establishment and the number of plants surviving until the end of the growing season were substantially greater in areas not invaded by P. australis , and both shoots and litter limited the abundance of forbs within stands. 4 Forbs surviving within stands of P. australis grew larger and produced more seeds than those in uninvaded areas, indicating that changes to the soil resulting from invasion do not preclude the survival of established forbs. This was confirmed by a glasshouse study where the performance of forbs in soil collected from within stands of P. australis was better than in soil from areas dominated by J. gerardi . 5 Similar to many invasive grasses in terrestrial communities, P . australis excludes native forbs through competition, modifying the biotic environment of the marsh at both the ground (litter) and above-ground (shoots) levels. Our results suggest that successful invaders, such as P. australis , are likely to be the ones that can engineer habitats in multiple ways and limit populations of native species across several critical stages of their life history.

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“…However, as is the case in studying many other kinds of invasive marine species (Grosholz 2002), investigation of the seaweed component has been dominated by case studies that are often strongly idiographic, focusing on high profile taxa that have, or might have, large ecological or economic effects. There has been little attempt to synthesise this body of work, either in the context of seaweed biology and ecology or more general invasion ecological theory.…”

Section: Background and Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%