Abstract
Invasive species can have large effects on native communities. When native and invasive species share parasites, an epidemic in a native species could facilitate or inhibit the invasion. We sought to understand how the incidence and timing of epidemics in native species caused by a generalist parasite influenced the success and impact of an invasive species. We focused on North American native and invasive species of zooplankton (Daphnia dentifera and Daphnia lumholtzi, respectively), that can both become infected with a fungal parasite (Metschnikowia bicuspidata). In a laboratory microcosm experiment, we exposed the native species to varying parasite inocula (none, low, high) and two invasive species introduction times (before or during an epidemic in the native species). We found that the invasive species density in treatments with the parasite was higher compared to uninfected treatments, though only the early invasion, low-parasite and uninfected treatments exhibited significant pairwise differences. However, invasive resting eggs were only found in the uninfected treatments. The density of the native species was lowest with a combination of the parasite present, and the invasive species introduced during the epidemic. Native infection prevalence in these treatments (late invasion, parasite present) was also higher than prevalence in treatments where the invasive species was introduced before the epidemic. Therefore, the timing of an invasion relative to an epidemic can affect both the native and invasive species. Our results suggest that the occurrence and timing of epidemics in native species can influence the impacts of a species invasion.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available on the repository osf.io (https://osf.io/n69r7).
Code availability
The code developed during this study is available on the repository osf.io (https://osf.io/n69r7).
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank M. Scherer, J. Davis, and M. Sparks for help with data collection and analysis. We would like to thank B. Berggren for help with manuscript editing.
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This study was funded by the National Science Foundation under the Graduate Research Fellowship under grant number DGE-1842166 (PEB) and under NSF grant number DEB-1856710 (CLS).
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CLS and KLJ conceived and designed the experiments. KLJ, PEB, BNH performed the experiments. BDH analyzed the data. PEB wrote the manuscript; all other authors provided editorial advice.
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Communicated by Tara Merrill and Jason Hoverman.
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Blackwood, P.E., Jonasen, K.L., Hoenig, B.D. et al. Epidemics in native species influence the outcome of a species invasion. Oecologia 204, 327–337 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05444-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05444-4