Evolution of dispersal and life history interact to drive accelerating spread of an invasive species

• Published in: Ecology letters Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 1079 - 1087
• Main Authors: Alex Perkins, T., Phillips, Benjamin L., Baskett, Marissa L., Hastings, Alan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2013; Blackwell
• Subjects: Amphibia; Animal and plant ecology; Animal Distribution; Animal migration; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Australia; Biogeography; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Evolution; Bufonidae - physiology; Climate shift; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; Ecology; Evolutionary biology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; integral projection model; integrodifference equation; Introduced Species; invasion front; invasion lag phase; Models, Biological; natural selection; Nonnative species; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; Population Dynamics; quantitative genetics; Rhinella marina; spatial selection; spatial spread; Toads; Australia; spatial selection; Bufonidae; Climate; Life history; invasion lag phase; Amphibia; Rhinella marina; Environmental factor; Salientia; Dispersion; Invasion; Natural selection; Quantitative genetics; integrodifference equation; Vertebrata; Invasive species; invasion front; integral projection model; Models; spatial spread; Environmental monitoring; Climate shift; Environmental protection; quantitative genetics; natural selection
• ISSN: 1461-023X; 1461-0248
• DOI: 10.1111/ele.12136

Populations on the edge of an expanding range are subject to unique evolutionary pressures acting on their life‐history and dispersal traits. Empirical evidence and theory suggest that traits there can evolve rapidly enough to interact with ecological dynamics, potentially giving rise to accelerating spread. Nevertheless, which of several evolutionary mechanisms drive this interaction between evolution and spread remains an open question. We propose an integrated theoretical framework for partitioning the contributions of different evolutionary mechanisms to accelerating spread, and we apply this model to invasive cane toads in northern Australia. In doing so, we identify a previously unrecognised evolutionary process that involves an interaction between life‐history and dispersal evolution during range shift. In roughly equal parts, life‐history evolution, dispersal evolution and their interaction led to a doubling of distance spread by cane toads in our model, highlighting the potential importance of multiple evolutionary processes in the dynamics of range expansion.