Prolonged diapause: a trait increasing invasion speed?

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Mathematical Biology

Background:

• Invasive species threaten biodiversity, making life history trait identification crucial for invasion capacity.
• Prolonged diapause is a key insect trait, but its impact on invasion speed is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of prolonged diapause on the invasion speed of species.
• To determine the conditions under which prolonged diapause influences invasion capacity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a mathematical approach using integro-difference equations to model insect dormancy.
• Analyzed the relationship between diapause frequency, dispersal cost, and invasion speed under varying environmental stochasticity.

Main Results:

• Low frequencies of prolonged diapause (1-2 years emergence) can increase invasion speed compared to simple diapause (1 year emergence).
• This effect is contingent on high environmental stochasticity, where prolonged diapause enhances population stochastic growth rate.
• Prolonged diapause does not aid invasion when environmental stochasticity is low.

Conclusions:

• Prolonged diapause can be a trait supporting invasion capacity, particularly under high environmental stochasticity.
• This finding challenges the traditional view of dormancy as solely an alternative to dispersal.
• Accurate assessment of environmental stochasticity is vital for predicting the invasion potential influenced by prolonged diapause.