Biological invasions are a major challenge to native communities and have the potential to exert strong selection on native populations. As a result, native taxa may adapt to the presence of invaders through increased competitive ability, increased antipredator defences or altered morphologies that may limit encounters with toxic prey. Yet, in some cases, species may fail to adapt to biological invasions. Many challenges to adaptation arise because biological invasions occur in complex species-rich communities in spatially and temporally variable environments. Here, we review these ‘ecological’ constraints on adaptation, focusing on the complications that arise from the need to simultaneously adapt to multiple biotic agents and from temporal and spatial variation in both selection and demography. Throughout, we illustrate cases where these constraints might be especially important in native populations faced with biological invasions. Our goal was to highlight additional complexities empiricists should consider when studying adaptation to biological invasions and to begin to identify conditions when adaptation may fail to be an effective response to invasion.
Lau_2006_Experiment_reciprocal_transplant.csv
Please see associated README file. These data were originally presented in J. A. Lau. 2006. Evolutionary responses of native plants to novel community
members. Evolution 60:56-63. They are fitness data from a reciprocal transplant experiment in which Acmispon wrangelianus genotypes collected from populations invaded or uninvaded by Medicago polymorpha were transplanted into a full 2 x 2 factorial experiment manipulating the presence of the exotic plant Medicago polymorpha and insect herbivores in invaded sites and into insecticided/non-insecticided plots in uninvaded sites. The README file also describes a related dataset (see Lau_2006_Field_reciprocal_transplant).
Lau 2006 Field reciprocal transplant
Please see associated README file. These data were originally presented in J. A. Lau. 2006. Evolutionary responses of native plants to novel community members. Evolution 60:56-63. They are fitness data from a reciprocal transplant experiment in which Acmispon wrangelianus genotypes collected from populations invaded or uninvaded by Medicago polymorpha were transplanted into invaded and uninvaded sites. The README file also describes a related dataset (see Lau_2006_Experiment_reciprocal_transplant).
Lau_2006_Field_reciprocal_transplant.csv
Lau_and_Strauss_ 2005_Year_2_data
Please see associated README file. These data were originally presented in J. A. Lau and S. Y. Strauss. 2005. Insect herbivores drive important indirect effects of
exotic plants on native communities. Ecology 86:2990-2997. The data characterize phenotypic traits (flowering time, size, herbivory) of naturally occurring Acmispon wrangelianus individuals growing in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment where the presence of the invasive plant Medicago polymorpha and insect herbivores were experimentally manipulated. The README file also describes a related dataset (see Lau_and_Strauss_2005_Year_1_data).
Lau_and_Strauss_2005_Year_1_data
Please see associated README file. These data were originally presented in J. A. Lau and S. Y. Strauss. 2005. Insect herbivores drive important indirect effects of exotic plants on native communities. Ecology 86:2990-2997. The data characterize phenotypic traits (flowering time, size, herbivory) of naturally occurring Acmispon wrangelianus individuals growing in a 2 x 2 factorial experiment where the presence of the invasive plant Medicago polymorpha and insect herbivores were experimentally manipulated. The README file also describes a related dataset (see Lau_and_Strauss_2005_Year_2_data).
