Darwin proposed two contradictory hypotheses to explain the influence of congeners on the outcomes of invasion: the naturalization hypothesis, which predicts a negative relationship between the presence of congeners and invasion success, and the pre-adaptation hypothesis, which predicts a positive relationship between the presence of congeners and invasion success. Studies testing these hypotheses have shown mixed support. We tested these hypotheses using the establishment success of non-native reptiles and congener presence/absence and richness across the globe. Our results demonstrated support for the pre-adaptation hypothesis. We found that globally, both on islands and continents, establishment success was higher in the presence than in the absence of congeners and that establishment success increased with increasing congener richness. At the life form level, establishment success was higher for lizards, marginally higher for snakes, and not different for turtles in the presence of congeners; data were insufficient to test the hypotheses for crocodiles. There was no relationship between establishment success and congener richness for any life form. We suggest that we found support for the pre-adaptation hypothesis because, at the scale of our analysis, native congeners represent environmental conditions appropriate for the species rather than competition for niche space. Our results imply that areas to target for early detection of non-native reptiles are those that host closely related species.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Bomford M., Kraus F., Barry S.C., Lawrence E. (2009): Predicting establishment success for alien reptiles and amphibians: a role for climate matching. Biol. Invasions 11: 713-724.
Daehler C. (2001): Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis revisited. Am. Nat. 158: 324-330.
Darwin C. (1859): On the Origin of Species. J. Murray, London.
Duncan R., Williams P. (2002): Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis challenged. Nature 417: 608-609.
Kolar C., Lodge D. (2001): Progress in invasion biology: predicting invaders. Trends Ecol. Evol. 16: 199-204.
Kraus F. (2009): Alien Reptiles and Amphibians: A Scientific Compendium and Analysis Series. Springer, Dordrecht.
Lambdon P., Hulme P. (2006): How strongly do interactions with closely-related native species influence plant invasions? Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis assessed on Mediterranean islands. J. Biogeogr. 33: 1116-1125.
MacIsaac H., Grigorovich I., Ricciardi A. (2001): Reassessment of species invasion concepts: the Great Lakes basin as a model. Biol. Invasions 3: 405-416.
Mack R. (1996): Biotic barriers to plant naturalization. In: Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, p. 19-26. Moran V., Hoffman J., Eds, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
McNeely J., Mooney H., Neville L., Schei P., Waage J. (2001): Global Strategy on Invasive Alien Species. IUCN, Gland.
Proches S., Wilson J., Richardon D., Rejmanek M. (2008): Searching for phylogenetic pattern in biological invasions. Global Ecol. Biogeogr. 17: 5-10.
Rejmanek M. (1996): A theory of seed plant invasiveness: the first sketch. Biol. Conserv. 78: 171-180.
Rejmanek M. (1998): Invasive plant species and invasible ecosystems. In: Invasive Species and Biodiversity Management, p. 79-102. Sandlund O., Schei P., Vilken A., Eds, Kluwer, Dordrecht.
Ricciardi A., Mottiar M. (2006): Does Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis explain fish invasion? Biol. Invasions 8: 1403-1407.
Sol D., Vila M., Kuhn I. (2008): The comparative analysis of historical alien introductions. Biol. Invasions 10: 1119-1129.
Thuiller W., Gallien L., Boulangeat I., Bello F., Munkemuller T., Roquet C., Lavergne S. (2010): Resolving Darwin’s naturalization conundrum: a quest for evidence. Divers. Distrib. 16: 461-475.
Tingley R., Phillips B.L., Shine R. (2011): Establishment success of introduced amphibians increases in the presence of congeneric species. Am. Nat. 177: 382-388.
Uetz P., Goll J., Hallermann J. (2007): Die TIGR-Reptiliendatenbank. Elaphe 15: 22-25.
van Wilgen N., Richardson D. (2011): Is phylogenetic relatedness to native species important for the establishment of reptiles introduced to California and Florida? Divers. Distrib. 17: 172-181.
van Wilgen N., Richardson D. (2012): The roles of climate, phylogenetic relatedness, introduction effort, and reproductive traits in the establishment of non-native reptiles and amphibians. Conserv. Biol. 26: 1-11.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 277 | 64 | 0 |
Full Text Views | 85 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 11 | 0 | 0 |
Darwin proposed two contradictory hypotheses to explain the influence of congeners on the outcomes of invasion: the naturalization hypothesis, which predicts a negative relationship between the presence of congeners and invasion success, and the pre-adaptation hypothesis, which predicts a positive relationship between the presence of congeners and invasion success. Studies testing these hypotheses have shown mixed support. We tested these hypotheses using the establishment success of non-native reptiles and congener presence/absence and richness across the globe. Our results demonstrated support for the pre-adaptation hypothesis. We found that globally, both on islands and continents, establishment success was higher in the presence than in the absence of congeners and that establishment success increased with increasing congener richness. At the life form level, establishment success was higher for lizards, marginally higher for snakes, and not different for turtles in the presence of congeners; data were insufficient to test the hypotheses for crocodiles. There was no relationship between establishment success and congener richness for any life form. We suggest that we found support for the pre-adaptation hypothesis because, at the scale of our analysis, native congeners represent environmental conditions appropriate for the species rather than competition for niche space. Our results imply that areas to target for early detection of non-native reptiles are those that host closely related species.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 277 | 64 | 0 |
Full Text Views | 85 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 11 | 0 | 0 |