Do invasive tetrapods conserve their climatic niches?

Abstract

Invasive species are the second biggest threat to biodiversity after habitat fragmentation. The species list was collated from the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD) and the Centre for Agricultural and Bioscience International (CABI), and the species occurrence data were downloaded from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). This study examines the niche dynamics of 152 invasive tetrapods and finds that 60% of the species have very low or low niche overlap across the native and introduced regions. There are species with very high niche overlap, such as the Cane toad, Brahminy blind snake, Eurasian collared dove, Whitehead marmoset and Asian house shrew. Around 30% (=46) of species are showing considerable niche expansion. Similarly, 21 species (5 amphibians, 6 reptiles, 6 birds and 4 mammals) show no expansion in the introduced region. The introduction pattern presents that 46 invasive tetrapods are native to Asia, whereas 43 of them are introduced to North America.