Long-Term Ecological and Evolutionary Impacts of Invasive Species on Native Wildlife and Habitat Dynamics

Abstract

Invasive species are among the primary agents of ecological transformation, restructuring native wildlife communities and altering habitat dynamics over long periods. Their effects in the long term are realized both through a complex of direct interactions, including predation and competition, and the transmission of diseases, and through indirect ecosystem effects that change nutrient cycles, the regime of disturbances, and landscape structure. These pressures may, over decades or centuries, cause evolutionary responses in native species, such as behavioral, morphological, and life-history changes, to reduce the impacts of new threats. These adaptations are not always limited by ecological constraints or rapid environmental change; however, they can result in population declines, changes in species distributions, and, in severe cases, local extirpation. The physical environments reorganized by invasive plant species and ecosystem engineers can alter the frequency, hydrology, and composition of soil at the habitat level, and have cascading effects on biodiversity. Such changes can put ecosystems into new stable states that are hard to recover from. It is therefore important to understand the long-term ecological and evolutionary impacts of biological invasions to determine future community trajectories and to implement management. By combining past data with current observations and experimental methods, it can be ensured that future predictions of invasion effects and interventions designed to conserve native biodiversity and ecosystem stability are likely to succeed in the face of increased global causes of species introductions.