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Reply to: Indiscriminate data aggregation in ecological meta-analysis underestimates impacts of invasive species

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 315–317 (2020)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 17 February 2020

replying to M. S. Thomsen Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1117-6 (2020)

Exotic species are a growing ecological threat, although their factual ecological effects are currently debated. Our global meta-analysis1 recently reported that marine exotic species have an overall significant, but modest, effect on native communities. Thomsen2 argues that the data in this meta-analysis were aggregated in a manner that might underestimate the ecological impacts of marine exotic species. Here we discuss the data aggregation methodologies proposed by Thomsen2 and evaluate, when possible, whether the findings meet the expectations.

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Fig. 1: Network diagram of the ecological effects of marine exotic species on native species.

References

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to S. Ghani for conducting the network diagram for Fig. 1, using resources and services at the Visualization Core Lab at KAUST.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) and Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Andrea Anton, Nathan R. Geraldi & Carlos M. Duarte

  2. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Catherine E. Lovelock

  3. Institute of Oceanography, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Heraklion, Greece

    Eugenia T. Apostolaki

  4. Global Change Research Group, Institut Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats, CSIC-UIB, Esporles, Spain

    Scott Bennett, Nuria Marbà & Julia Santana-Garcon

  5. Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory, Dauphin Island, AL, USA

    Just Cebrian

  6. Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA

    Just Cebrian

  7. Northern Gulf Institute, Mississippi State University, Stennis Space Center, MS, USA

    Just Cebrian

  8. Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Dorte Krause-Jensen

  9. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Dorte Krause-Jensen

  10. Laboratorio de Ecologia, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras CONICET-UNMdP, Mar de Plata, Argentina

    Paulina Martinetto

  11. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    John M. Pandolfi

Authors
  1. Andrea Anton
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  2. Nathan R. Geraldi
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  8. Nuria Marbà
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  9. Paulina Martinetto
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  10. John M. Pandolfi
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  11. Julia Santana-Garcon
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  12. Carlos M. Duarte
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Contributions

A.A., C.M.D. and N.R.G. conceived the paper. A.A. analysed and interpreted the data. A.A. wrote the first draft and all authors improved it and approved the submission.

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Correspondence to Andrea Anton.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Anton, A., Geraldi, N.R., Lovelock, C.E. et al. Reply to: Indiscriminate data aggregation in ecological meta-analysis underestimates impacts of invasive species. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 315–317 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1118-5

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