SYMP 16-3
Biotic resistance in freshwater communities: what we know and where to go
The suggestion that biotic resistance plays a significant role in limiting invasion success has been debated and discussed on a seemingly continuous basis since Charles Elton published the idea in his book The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. Yet a suite of recent syntheses and meta-analyses have questioned the veracity of this proposition and have suggested some tantalizing trends; 1. there are significant issues with scale dependency surrounding this phenomena and 2. the common assessment metric typically employed in these investigations (species richness) may not be the best touchstone for these questions. Within this context, I will examine the role of biotic resistance in freshwater fish communities; beginning with some of the work we have completed in California and compare our results to what others have learned from investigations around the globe at varying spatial scales. From this comparison, it is clear that freshwater fish communities appear to behave similar to other taxonomic and environmental systems.
Results/Conclusions
I will attempt to bring some light to the debate, discuss the potential drivers behind the competing sets of results and suggest some avenues for future research.