Invasive species pose a paradox for ecologists and evolutionary
biologists. A species evolved in a foreign ecosystem should lack the
adaptations necessary to persist in the environment and biota
encountered in its alien ranges; yet, some of them develop expansive
population dynamics that displace local species and disturb ecosystem
processes. This dynamics seems to contradict the basic tenets of
evolutionary theory.
A number of mechanisms have been put forward to explain this paradox, including:
- the facilitation by human-caused disturbances (resource release plus reduced competition),
- the escape from natural enemies (lack of specialized predators, herbivores and pathogens in the new range),
- the cooption of native mutualisms (integration into native mutualistic networks),
- the facilitation by previously established invaders (invasion complexes).
Our research focuses on understanding the factors that determine the success of certain invasive species and modulate their spread, and those that mediate their impact on local ecosystems. We are particularly interested in the facilitation effects of natural enemy release and invasion complexes, and focus on invasive plants and mammals. Examples of our current and past study systems include:
- Invasive plants on insular environments (Oxalis pes-caprae at Cabrera Archipelago, E Spain).
- Impact of invasive herbivores on island ecosystems (black rats and European rabbits at Cabrera Archipelago, E Spain, and Cíes Islands, NW Spain; feral goats at Mallorca's mountain range).
- Multitrophic effects in invasion complexes (Cíes Islands, NW Spain).
- Invasion of coastal ecosystems by Balearic lizard and Argentine ants (see project NatAlien)
