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Spatial scales and the invasion paradox: a test using fish assemblages in a Neotropical floodplain

  • INVASIVE SPECIES II
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Abstract

The invasion paradox refers to the existence of biotic resistance and biotic acceptance hypotheses. According to the biotic resistance hypothesis, the higher the richness present in a community, the more resistant it is against invaders. In contrast, the biotic acceptance hypothesis states that if the environment is suitable for a high richness of native species, it will be similarly suitable for establishment of non-native species. Previous studies on terrestrial plant communities considered the scale-dependent nature of native and non-native relationships: the relationship tends to be negative at small scales (biotic resistance) and positive at broader scales (biotic acceptance). We tested the hypothesized role of spatial scale on the relationship between non-native and native species richness using a spatially nested design and a long-term dataset (146 communities sampled during 13 years) of fish species richness from the upper Paraná River floodplain, Brazil. Contrary to expectations, non-native fish species richness was positively correlated with native species richness at all spatial scales. Mobility of vertebrates, mode of invasion, and environmental disturbance may affect the role of spatial scale in potentially mediating relative importance of biotic acceptance versus resistance. In this context, the present study provides a unique contribution towards resolving the invasion paradox.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Continentais (PEA) and Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (Nupélia) for providing the staff who conducted field surveys. This work was financially supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Supeior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) that provided national and international scholarships for the first author, and funding for Brazilian Long Term Ecological Research program (PELD)—Site 6: the Upper Paraná River Floodplain. Comments from three external reviewers greatly improved the manuscript.

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  1. Programa de pós-graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais (PEA) da Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790. Bloco G-90, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Daniel Alves dos Santos & Luiz Carlos Gomes

  2. UNICESUMAR – Centro Universitário de Maringá, Av. Guedner 1610, CEP 87050-900, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Daniel Alves dos Santos

  3. Department of Biological Sciences and the Advanced Environmental Research Institute, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #310559, Denton, TX, 76203-5017, USA

    David Joseph Hoeinghaus

  4. Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (NUPELIA), Departamento de Biologia, PEA, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790. Blocos G-90 e H-90, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Luiz Carlos Gomes

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  1. Daniel Alves dos Santos
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Guest editors: John E. Havel, Sidinei M. Thomaz, Lee B. Kats, Katya E. Kovalenko & Luciano N. Santos / Aquatic Invasive Species II

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dos Santos, D.A., Hoeinghaus, D.J. & Gomes, L.C. Spatial scales and the invasion paradox: a test using fish assemblages in a Neotropical floodplain. Hydrobiologia 817, 121–131 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3531-1

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