Assessing land use, trait, and phylogenetic influences on invasive freshwater fishes in National Ecological Observation Network (NEON) sites

Studying community invasion ecology is integral to understanding how biotic and abiotic factors increase invasion success. Our research focused on freshwater fish communities and ecological interactions across 28 National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) aquatic sites. NEON data provide the opportunity to assess spatial differences between uniformly-sampled field sites across the United States. We analyzed the influence of phylogenetic diversity, functional traits, and land use on invasion response metrics with beta regression models. Invasion response variables included relative abundance of invasive taxa and relative invasive richness. Average temperature range of all species at each site was the only variable found to be related to invasion, with lower densities of invaders when fishes had a higher thermal range. No significant correlations were found between invasion metrics and phylogenetic relatedness, fecundity, trophic level, body size or land use. Our study demonstrates the benefits of continental-scale, coordinated datasets to answer ecological questions, including developing a better understanding of the broad-scale drivers of aquatic invasions.

Primary Presenter: Angela Strecker, Western Washington University (angela.strecker@wwu.edu)

Authors:

Brigid Wills, Institute for Watershed Studies, Western Washington University  (willsb4@wwu.edu)

Angela Strecker, Institute for Watershed Studies, Western Washington University  (strecka2@wwu.edu)

Alicia McGrew, Institute for Watershed Studies, Western Washington University  (mcgrewa@wwu.edu)

Crysta Gantz, Portland State University  (cgantz@pdx.edu)

Phoebe Zarnetske, Michigan State University  (plz@msu.edu)

Ben Baiser, University of Florida  (bbaiser@ufl.edu)

Sydne Record, University of Maine  (sydne.record@maine.edu)