I feel that invasive species are some of the greatest threats to the great lakes and the rivers in the surrounding areas. Not many people are aware of the dangers of invasive species because they do not see the effects every day. Zebra mussels have been more personal to me as they have affected the environment and businesses of my hometown, but others like the Asian Carp make their threat more visible.
Epigenetics In Invasive Species
I found an interesting article on epigenetics - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetics "the study of heritable changes in gene expression or cellular phenotype caused by mechanisms other than changes in the underlying DNA sequence". Essentially it is saying that invasive species adapt to their new environments not by evolving and changing their genetic DNA, but through expressions of different traits brought about by environmental factors. While some genes of a species may lie dormant for its entire life, the area a species is living in can change which genes are expressed and which are suppressed. An example from the article includes the invasive plant the Japanese knotweed, of which genetically identical plants can have different leaf shapes and varying heights depending upon where they are growing.
Not all believe that epigenetics and invasive species' success are related. I am not totally convinced either, but it raises an interesting point of how invasive species can thrive in an area vastly different from their origin.
Epigenetics is an interesting concept, though I am not sure it can completely explain why invasive species are so successful. It could certainly be a part of it, though it seems more likely to me that a simple lack of predators or grazers explains more.
ReplyDeleteIt was always my assumption that natural factors would limit an otherwise invasive species, and that we only call a species invasive if there simply isn't an ecological factor that limits the success of it. From what I understand, epigenetics is a relatively new discovery. I'm very interested in seeing if a link between AIS and epigenetics is eventually made.
ReplyDeleteLike Alex, I believe that the main reason that an invasive species can succeed so well in a new environment is the lack of natural predators. It does not matter how quickly an species can adapt or if they have a certain dormant trait; if something is eating them faster than they can overproduce, they aren't going to become a disastrous invasive species. That said, I do believe that Epigenetics can predispose a species to adapt to a new environment and lead to quicker domination of that environment.
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