School of Biological Sciences, Monash University Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
Ecol Evol. 2011 Nov;1(3):278-89. doi: 10.1002/ece3.22.
Invasive species represent a select subset of organisms that have successfully transitioned through each stage of the introduction process (transportation, establishment, and spread). Although there is a growing realization that behavior plays a critical role in invasion success, few studies have focused on the initial stages of introduction. We examined whether differences in the grouping tendencies and exploratory behavior of two sympatric lizard species could contribute to their divergent invasion success. While the nondirected activity of the two species did not differ, the invasive delicate skink (Lampropholis delicata) was found to be more exploratory than the congeneric noninvasive garden skink (L. guichenoti), which enabled it to more effectively locate novel environments and basking site resources. The delicate skink also exhibited a greater tendency to hide, which may act to enhance its probability of ensnarement in freight and cargo and decrease its likelihood of detection during transit. The grouping tendencies of the two species did not differ. Together, our results suggest that while the two species have an equivalent "opportunity" for unintentional human-assisted transportation, several pre-existing behavioral traits may enhance the success of the delicate skink in negotiating the initial stages of the introduction process, and subsequent post-establishment spread.
入侵物种代表了成功通过引入过程（运输、建立和传播）各个阶段的生物体的一个精选子集。尽管越来越多的人认识到行为在入侵成功中起着关键作用，但很少有研究关注引入的初始阶段。我们研究了两种同域蜥蜴物种在分组倾向和探索行为方面的差异是否有助于它们不同的入侵成功。虽然两种物种的无定向活动没有差异，但入侵的脆弱石龙子（Lampropholis delicata）比同属的非入侵花园石龙子（L. guichenoti）更具探索性，这使它能够更有效地找到新的环境和晒斑资源。脆弱石龙子也表现出更大的隐藏倾向，这可能会增加它在货物和货物中被捕获的概率，并降低它在运输过程中被发现的可能性。两种物种的分组倾向没有差异。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，尽管这两个物种都有同等的“机会”被非故意的人为运输，但一些预先存在的行为特征可能会增强脆弱石龙子在谈判引入过程的初始阶段以及随后的建立后传播的成功机会。
