Searching for phylogenetic pattern in biological invasions

Abstract

It has been suggested that alien species with close indigenous relatives in the introduced range may have reduced chances of successful establishment and invasion (Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis). Studies trying to test this have in fact been addressing four different hypotheses, and the same data can support some while rejecting others. In this paper, we argue that the phylogenetic pattern will change depending on the spatial and phylogenetic scales considered. Expectations and observations from invasion biology and the study of natural communities are that at the spatial scale relevant to competitive interactions, closely related species will be spatially separated, whereas at the regional scale, species in the same genera or families will tend to co-occur more often than by chance. We also argue that patterns in the relatedness of indigenous and naturalized plants are dependent on the continental/ island setting, spatial occupancy levels, and on the group of organisms under scrutiny. Understanding how these factors create a phylogenetic pattern in invasions will help us predict which groups are more likely to invade where, and should contribute to general ecological theory.