Contact experience, alien-native interactions, and their community consequences: A theoretical consideration on the role of adaptation in biological invasion

Ecological theory suggests that interspecific interactions arising between an alien species and native species hold the key to invasion success by an alien species. The well-known hypothesis that an alien species that has few natural enemies is more likely to be a successful invader (e.g., Blossey and Notzold 1995, Mitchell and Power 2003) implies the importance of a trophic interaction. The hypothesis that a community with higher species richness is more resistant to a biological invasion (Stachowicz et al. 1999, Kennedy et al. 2002) is strongly based on the competition theory (Tilman 1982). Further, the way through which a biological invasion affects the local community is an alien-native interspecific interaction such as resource competition, trophic interaction and allelopathy. The important role of interspecific interactions in a biological invasion suggests the detailed evaluation of the interspecific interactions between alien and native species as an interesting approach to the biological invasion issues.