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Brave New World: the epistatic foundations of natives adapting to invaders

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Abstract

Classical examples indicated rapid evolution to be both rare and largely anthropogenic. As the pace and scale of human disturbance increase, such evolution is becoming more the norm. Genetically based adaptation may underlie successful biological invasions, and may likewise characterize responses in natives to invasives. Recent published studies confirm that natives are adapting morphologically, behaviorally, physiologically and life historically to selection from invasive species. Some of the processes involved are evident in our studies of recent host shifts to invasive plants by native soapberry bugs in North America and Australia. On both continents populations have differentiated extensively in fitness traits. Genetic architecture of these adaptations involves a surprising degree of non-additive variation (epistasis, dominance), a result that in theory may reflect a history of colonization by a small number of individuals followed by population growth. Such “founder-flush” events may unleash extraordinary evolutionary potential, and their importance will be clarified as more studies take advantage of the accidental perturbation experiments that biotic invasions represent. From a conservation standpoint, rapid evolution in natives will present challenges for ecologically appropriate and sustainable management, but at the same time may enhance the capacity of the native community to act in the biological control of invasive species.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Hugh Dingle and Jenella Loye for their partnership throughout the research presented here. Tom Famula, Michael Mathieson and Myron Zalucki have been involved in many aspects of our work. I thank the editors for the opportunity to participate in this volume, and an anonymous reviewer for pointing out weaknesses in the original draft. Funding has been provided by NSF, the Australian–American Fulbright Commission, and Carroll-Loye Biological Research, with further support from the School of Life Sciences, University of Queensland and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency.

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  1. Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, CA , 95616, USA

    Scott P. Carroll

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Correspondence to Scott P. Carroll.

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Carroll, S.P. Brave New World: the epistatic foundations of natives adapting to invaders. Genetica 129, 193–204 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-006-9014-8

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