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Invasions! Traveset, A. Espècies
invasores i mutualismes planta-animal Invasive species and mutualistic plant-animal interactions Mutualistic interactions between plants and animals can play a crucial role in determining the invasion success of a large number of species. In turn, invasive species can have considerable effects on the structure, organization and composition of communities due to the multiple interactions (both mutualistic and antagonistic) that they establish with native species. In this article, these mutualistic interactions (specifically, pollination and seed dispersal) are examined in the context of such biological invasions. To properly understand the dynamics of a community one must do more than examine the different components separately. Thus, analytical methods originally developed for the study of food web ecology are being used as an ideal conceptual framework for the study of mutualistic network dynamics, which actually corresponds to the architecture of biodiversity. The integration of an invasive species within a community, as well as its impact on it, is modulated by the different attributes of the invader(s), the native species, and the various plant-animal mutualistic networks present. Invasive plants, in particular, have been shown to affect natives by means of indirect interactions mediated by the mutualistic mechanisms described above. The article ends with some perspectives on management and suggests that all restoration and monitoring programs which address biological invasions explicitly consider such mutualistic interactions. |
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