PNAS QnAs with NAS member and molecular biologist Steven A. Kliewer
New Research In
Physical Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Biological Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Edited by Daniel S. Simberloff, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, and approved August 2, 2018 (received for review March 9, 2018)
Significance
Islands are hotspots of alien species invasions, and their distinct biodiversity is particularly vulnerable to invading species. While isolation has shaped natural colonization of islands for millions of years, globalization in trade and transport has led to a breakdown of biogeographical barriers and subsequent colonization of islands by alien species. Using a large dataset of 257 subtropical and tropical islands, we show that alien richness increases with increasing isolation of islands. This pattern is consistent for plants, ants, mammals, and reptiles, and it cannot simply be explained by island economics and trade alone. Geographical isolation does not protect islands from alien species, and island species richness may reach a new dynamic equilibrium at some point, likely at the expense of many endemic species.
Abstract
One of the best-known general patterns in island biogeography is the species–isolation relationship (SIR), a decrease in the number of native species with increasing island isolation that is linked to lower rates of natural dispersal and colonization on remote oceanic islands. However, during recent centuries, the anthropogenic introduction of alien species has increasingly gained importance and altered the composition and richness of island species pools. We analyzed a large dataset for alien and native plants, ants, reptiles, mammals, and birds on 257 (sub) tropical islands, and showed that, except for birds, the number of naturalized alien species increases with isolation for all taxa, a pattern that is opposite to the negative SIR of native species. We argue that the reversal of the SIR for alien species is driven by an increase in island invasibility due to reduced diversity and increased ecological naiveté of native biota on the more remote islands.
Footnotes
↵1D.M. and B.L. contributed equally to this work.
- ↵2To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: bernd.lenzner{at}univie.ac.at.
Author contributions: D.M. and B.L. designed research; D.M. and B.L. performed research; P.W., W.D., H.K., J.P., P.P., M.v.K., M.W., C.C., P.C., S.D., E.P.E., P.G.-D., B.G., H.S., and F.E. contributed data for the different taxonomic groups; D.M., B.L., F.H., and T.M. analyzed data; and D.M., B.L., P.W., W.D., H.K., J.P., P.P., M.v.K., M.W., C.C., P.C., S.D., E.P.E., P.G.-D., B.G., F.H., T.M., H.S., and F.E. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1804179115/-/DCSupplemental.
Published under the PNAS license.
Log in using your username and password
Purchase access
You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
Remoteness promotes biological invasions on islands worldwide
More Articles of This Classification
Biological Sciences
Related Content
Cited by...
- No citing articles found.
Similar Articles
You May Also be Interested in
Holographic acoustic tweezers, in which ultrasonic waves produced by arrays of sound emitters are used to individually manipulate up to 25 millimeter-sized particles in three dimensions, could be used to create 3D displays consisting of levitating physical voxels.
Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived medial ganglionic eminence cells alleviate chronic epilepsy in rats, raising the possibility of autologous grafts, which could preclude the need for immune suppression after grafting and promote long-term graft–host integration.
By the end of the 21st century, annual mean residential electricity consumption in China’s Yangtze River Delta might increase by an estimated 9.2% for each 1 °C increase in global mean surface temperature relative to the late 20th century.
An analysis of journal articles, focusing on 11 writing-style components, suggests that good writing can noticeably enhance article impact.
Image courtesy of Tullio Rossi (artist).
