Invasive species articles within Nature Communications

Featured

• Article
  02 June 2015 | Open Access

  Biological invasion and biological control select for different life histories

  Understanding how biological invaders displace native species is challenging. Here, the authors compare the evolution of life-history strategies in the harlequin ladybird under laboratory conditions and show that invaders reproduce earlier and allocate more resources to reproduction than natives.

  • Ashraf Tayeh
  • , Ruth A. Hufbauer
  •  & Benoit Facon

• Article
  16 December 2014 | Open Access

  Transposable element islands facilitate adaptation to novel environments in an invasive species

  Genetic variation is key to species evolution. Here the authors sequence two phenotypically distinct populations of the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, and find accumulations of transposable elements correlating with genetic variation that may have a role in differentiation, adaptation and speciation.

  • Lukas Schrader
  • , Jay W. Kim
  •  & Jan Oettler

• Article
  18 September 2013 | Open Access

  Increasing functional modularity with residence time in the co-distribution of native and introduced vascular plants

  Understanding how species assemblages change over time is crucial for conservation. Here, the authors assess the changes of compartmentalized structure in native and alien species across millennia, and show that older assemblages can form more functionally distinctive modules than younger ones.

  • Cang Hui
  • , David M. Richardson
  •  & Vojtěch Jarošík

• Article | 19 March 2013

  Environmental variability promotes plant invasion

  Environmental conditions are likely to become more temporally variable with global environmental change. Parepa et al. show that temporal variability on soil nutrient availability strongly promotes plant invasion and consequently can be a strong driver of ecological changes.

  • Madalin Parepa
  • , Markus Fischer
  •  & Oliver Bossdorf

• Article | 16 November 2010

  Threat of invasive pests from within national borders

  Invasive species are usually thought to originate from outside a country's borders. Here, using a self-organizing map, Paini and co-workers show that the species most likely to 'invade' the USA are already firmly established within the country, suggesting the need for biosecurity measures within national borders.

  • Dean R. Paini
  • , Susan P. Worner
  •  & Matthew B. Thomas