Predicting the success of an invader: Niche shift versus niche conservatism

Abstract

Invasive species can encounter environments different from their source populations, which may trigger rapid adaptive changes after introduction (niche shift hypothesis). To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether postintroduction evolution is correlated with contrasting environmental conditions between the European invasive and source ranges in the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus. The comparison of environmental niches occupied in European and source population ranges revealed more than 96% overlap between invasive and source niches, supporting niche conservatism. However, we found evidence for postintroduction genetic evolution by reanalyzing a published ddRADseq genomic dataset from 90 European invasive populations using genotype–environment association (GEA) methods and generalized dissimilarity modeling (GDM). Three loci, among which a putative heat‐shock protein, exhibited significant allelic turnover along the gradient of winter precipitation that could be associated with ongoing range expansion. Wing morphometric traits weakly correlated with environmental gradients within Europe, but wing size differed between invasive and source populations located in different climatic areas. Niche similarities between source and invasive ranges might have facilitated the establishment of populations. Nonetheless, we found evidence for environmental‐induced adaptive changes after introduction. The ability to rapidly evolve observed in invasive populations (genetic shift) together with a large proportion of unfilled potential suitable areas (80%) pave the way to further spread of Ae. albopictus in Europe.

Transcriptional variation of sensory-related genes in natural populations of Aedes albopictus

“…Among these Mediterranean populations, Athens is quite apart and is unique in sharing with Thailand a high number of enriched transcripts. This may be expected considering its direct demographic origin from Thailand [18,19], while the origins of the northern Italian Arco and Trento populations is more complex [10,18,21]. Thus, we can speculate that ancestry, consequent to the demographic histories of populations, may affect the transcriptional profiles of genes related to sensory perception, which in turn may influence their behaviour.…”

“…Numerous studies have attempted to unravel different aspects of the Ae. albopictus invasion process and to infer the genetic relationships between populations at the micro-and macro-geographic levels [10,14,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. From these studies it appears that the global invasion process was aided by independent transand inter-continental introductions that may have facilitated the rapid establishment of adventive populations through admixture of unrelated genomes.…”

WEST NILE VIRUS DETECTION PROGRAMME, SURVEILLANCE OF Culex sp. IN MONTENEGRO, 2019

“…Essential for Aedes albopicitus control is to have permanent survey above this species not only concerning WNV, than other mosquito borne diseases (Petric et al, 2018). The study of the geographical distribution of invasive species can also provide valuable information about their invasiveness (Sherpa et al, 2019).…”

Global distribution patterns provide evidence of niche shift by the introduced African dung beetle Digitonthophagus gazella

“…This discrepancy may reflect a weakness of the model, indicate that D. gazella has a broader environmental niche than is predicted by its native range, and/or that D. gazella has expanded its environmental niche tolerance. This latter process potentially occurs via microevolutionary processes, hybridization, and/or biotic interactions (Sherpa et al, 2019; Manzoor et al, 2020). Thus, about half of the distribution records for D. gazella are centred on regions with differing environmental conditions to those in its African native range.…”