Some reflections on current invasion science and perspectives for an exciting future

Abstract

Species spreading beyond their native ranges are important study objects in ecology and environmental sciences and research on biological invasions is thriving. Along with an increase in the number of publications, the research field is experiencing an increase in the diversity of methods applied and questions asked. This development has facilitated an upsurge in information on invasions, but it also creates conceptual and practical challenges. To provide more transparency on which kind of research is actually done in the field, the distinction between invasion science, encompassing the full spectrum of studies on biological invasions and the sub-field of invasion biology, studying patterns and mechanisms of species invasions with a focus on biological research questions, can be useful. Although covering a smaller range of topics, invasion biology today still is the driving force in invasion science and we discuss challenges stemming from its embeddedness in the social context. Invasion biology consists of the building blocks ‘theory’, ‘case studies’ and ‘application’, where theory takes the form of conceptual frameworks, major hypotheses and statistical generalisations. Referencing recent work in philosophy of science, we argue that invasion biology, like other biological or ecological disciplines, does not rely on the development of an all-encompassing theory in order to be efficient. We suggest, however, that theory development is nonetheless necessary and propose improvements. Recent advances in data visualisation, machine learning and semantic modelling are providing opportunities for enhancing knowledge management and presentation and we suggest that invasion science should use these to transform its ways of publishing, archiving and visualising research. Along with a stronger focus on studies going beyond purely biological questions, this would facilitate the efficient prevention and management of biological invasions.

Forty years of invasion research: more papers, more collaboration...bigger impact?

“…Although there have been calls for increasing interdisciplinarity in invasion science to advance the field (e.g. Vaz et al 2017;Heger et al 2021), socio-ecological research began in the 1990s and early 2000s (Vaz et al 2017), and some advances in interdisciplinary collaboration have occurred in research on historical, economic and management aspects of biological invasions. As interdisciplinary collaboration has been associated with increased citation rates in some instances in ecology (Leimu and Koricheva 2005a), such a relationship could also play a role in the effect of number of authors on citation rates in invasion science.…”

Biological invasions are a population‐level rather than a species‐level phenomenon

“…As biological invasions continue to escalate globally, understanding what enables populations of non-native species to spread to new territories becomes crucial in devising effective strategies for the mitigation of their impacts (Heger et al, 2021;Richardson & Ricciardi, 2013). Biological invasions can be described as a process that unfolds in four stages: transportation, introduction, establishment and spread; with potential impacts being incurred at every stage of the invasion process (Blackburn et al, 2011;Catford et al, 2009).…”

A synthesis of biological invasion hypotheses associated with the introduction–naturalisation–invasion continuum

“…Progress must still be made as selecting hypotheses to test can be a daunting task, which can also lead to unnecessary duplication of work. This problem has been partially addressed by conceptual frameworks (Facon et al 2006, Catford et al 2009, Blackburn et al 2011, Gurevitch et al 2011, van Kleunen et al 2018, Godoy 2019, Wilson et al 2020), but confusion remains (Gurevitch et al 2011, Gallien and Carboni 2017), as their application risks over‐generalisation and omission of potentially important details (Heger et al 2021). In line with this idea, our aim is not to build a grand unified theory of biological invasions, but rather to move knowledge forward by organizing invasion biology theories and hypotheses in a systematic way.…”