BIOLIEF 2011: Linking invasive species and ecosystems

JORGE L. C. GUTIERREZ; M. GABRIELA PALOMO; PABLO D. RIBEIRO

ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY

GAUTHIER-VILLARS/EDITIONS ELSEVIER

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2014 vol. 54 p. 1 - 3

1146-609X

Invasive species impacts on ecosystem functioning (i.e., the stocks and fluxes of energy and materials and their stability over time; sensu Pacala and Kinzig, 2002) have traditionally been much less investigated than their impacts on particular species or communities (Parker et al., 1999; Sousa et al., 2011). General hypotheses, frameworks, and theories about the ecosystem-level impacts of invaders are noticeably lacking and a number of fundamental questions in the field e such as how species affect ecosystem functioning, how frequently they do so, which invasions will change ecosystem functioning, and which ecosystem functions are affected more often or more severely by invaders e remain open or were just partially answered by ecologists (Strayer, 2012). To achieve reliable general answers to these questions it becomes necessary the study of a highly diverse and unbiased array of species and ecosystems, followed by conceptual integration and synthesis across taxonomic groups and geographical regions (Pysek et al., 2008; Jeschke et al., 2012)