Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential
Bioinvasions pose a major threat to global biodiversity. Correlative Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) can be a valuable tool to identify invaders and invasion sites. However, in cases when species are in non-equilibrium with their native environment (i.e. do not fill their niche), correlative approach...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt0817h25b 2023-05-15T14:01:12+02:00 Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential Laeseke, Philipp Martínez, Brezo Mansilla, Andrés Bischof, Kai 2021-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0817h25b unknown eScholarship, University of California qt0817h25b https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0817h25b CC-BY CC-BY Frontiers of Biogeography, vol 13, iss 4 barrier bioinvasions ecological niche modelling intertidal marine niche shifts polar South Shetland Islands species distribution modelling article 2021 ftcdlib 2021-12-13T18:18:52Z Bioinvasions pose a major threat to global biodiversity. Correlative Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) can be a valuable tool to identify invaders and invasion sites. However, in cases when species are in non-equilibrium with their native environment (i.e. do not fill their niche), correlative approaches have limited power and invasions lead to shifts of the realized niche. In recent years, several new seaweed species have been reported in Antarctica. It is impossible to unequivocally identify which of these species are truly non-natives, however, here, we provide literature-based evidence that seaweed species have been introduced to Antarctica. Under this assumption, we reconstruct pre- and post-introduction niches of these species, calculate relative niche sizes and overlap between pre-Antarctic and Antarctic sites, and evaluate increase in niche size due to inclusion of Antarctic habitats. In seven species, the absolute occupied temperature range is dramatically enlarged, with minimum sea surface temperature (SST) being 2-5°C lower than in the pre-Antarctic ranges. In all species except one, summer SST is 5-20°C lower than in the pre-Antarctic ranges. As a result, several species’ niches increase dramatically. We hypothesize that species from the Southern Hemisphere do not cover their whole abiotically suitable range due to lack of settling substrate in cold-water regions while species from the Northern Hemisphere tend to fill their niches to a greater degree due to higher connectivity between tropic and polar regions along coastlines. Thus, while correlative ENMs for Northern Hemisphere species will probably be successful in predicting Antarctica as a suitable habitat, such models will likely be insufficient to do so for Southern Hemisphere species. From a precautionary standpoint, we argue that not only species from climatically matching regions pose an invasion threat for Antarctica, but that also species from other, climatically non-matching regions, might be potential invaders. In light of higher connectivity of the Antarctic continent with other continents this finding significantly increases invasion risk for Antarctica. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica South Shetland Islands University of California: eScholarship Antarctic South Shetland Islands The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
barrier bioinvasions ecological niche modelling intertidal marine niche shifts polar South Shetland Islands species distribution modelling |
spellingShingle |
barrier bioinvasions ecological niche modelling intertidal marine niche shifts polar South Shetland Islands species distribution modelling Laeseke, Philipp Martínez, Brezo Mansilla, Andrés Bischof, Kai Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential |
topic_facet |
barrier bioinvasions ecological niche modelling intertidal marine niche shifts polar South Shetland Islands species distribution modelling |
description |
Bioinvasions pose a major threat to global biodiversity. Correlative Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) can be a valuable tool to identify invaders and invasion sites. However, in cases when species are in non-equilibrium with their native environment (i.e. do not fill their niche), correlative approaches have limited power and invasions lead to shifts of the realized niche. In recent years, several new seaweed species have been reported in Antarctica. It is impossible to unequivocally identify which of these species are truly non-natives, however, here, we provide literature-based evidence that seaweed species have been introduced to Antarctica. Under this assumption, we reconstruct pre- and post-introduction niches of these species, calculate relative niche sizes and overlap between pre-Antarctic and Antarctic sites, and evaluate increase in niche size due to inclusion of Antarctic habitats. In seven species, the absolute occupied temperature range is dramatically enlarged, with minimum sea surface temperature (SST) being 2-5°C lower than in the pre-Antarctic ranges. In all species except one, summer SST is 5-20°C lower than in the pre-Antarctic ranges. As a result, several species’ niches increase dramatically. We hypothesize that species from the Southern Hemisphere do not cover their whole abiotically suitable range due to lack of settling substrate in cold-water regions while species from the Northern Hemisphere tend to fill their niches to a greater degree due to higher connectivity between tropic and polar regions along coastlines. Thus, while correlative ENMs for Northern Hemisphere species will probably be successful in predicting Antarctica as a suitable habitat, such models will likely be insufficient to do so for Southern Hemisphere species. From a precautionary standpoint, we argue that not only species from climatically matching regions pose an invasion threat for Antarctica, but that also species from other, climatically non-matching regions, might be potential invaders. In light of higher connectivity of the Antarctic continent with other continents this finding significantly increases invasion risk for Antarctica. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laeseke, Philipp Martínez, Brezo Mansilla, Andrés Bischof, Kai |
author_facet |
Laeseke, Philipp Martínez, Brezo Mansilla, Andrés Bischof, Kai |
author_sort |
Laeseke, Philipp |
title |
Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential |
title_short |
Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential |
title_full |
Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential |
title_fullStr |
Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential |
title_full_unstemmed |
Invaders in waiting? Non-equilibrium in Southern Hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of Antarctic invasion potential |
title_sort |
invaders in waiting? non-equilibrium in southern hemisphere seaweed distributions may lead to underestimation of antarctic invasion potential |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0817h25b |
geographic |
Antarctic South Shetland Islands The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic South Shetland Islands The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica South Shetland Islands |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica South Shetland Islands |
op_source |
Frontiers of Biogeography, vol 13, iss 4 |
op_relation |
qt0817h25b https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0817h25b |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766270791362543616 |