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Invasion ecology: Unpredictable arms race in a jam jar

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0028 (2017) Cite this article

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Microcosm experiments show that post-invasion evolution of residents and invaders means invasive species effects are even harder to predict than previously thought.

We live in an invaded world. Non-native species have been introduced to every continent and countless islands. Predicting the fate of introductions is difficult, as many introduced species integrate into resident communities through a wide range of ecological interactions with residents including predation, competition and facilitation. In this issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution, Faillace and Morin perform an elegant ‘jam jar’ or microcosm experiment, demonstrating that post-invasion evolution of both invaders and residents may further contribute to this unpredictability1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yvonne M. Buckley is in the School of Natural Sciences, Discipline of Zoology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.,

    Yvonne M. Buckley

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  1. Yvonne M. Buckley
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Correspondence to Yvonne M. Buckley.

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Buckley, Y. Invasion ecology: Unpredictable arms race in a jam jar. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0028 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0028

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0028

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