Biological invasions facilitated by firebreaks: a counterpoint between forests and savannas

• Grant number: 24/01670-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Alessandra Tomaselli Fidelis
• Grantee: Juliano Zardetto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Biological invasions are complex processes whose effects can be detected on more than one spatial scale. The susceptibility of communities and metacommunities to invasion may depend on biotic, abiotic, and propagule pressure factors. Firebreaks are undeniably important in Conservation Units (CUs), but they can act as routes for the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS). The reduced scientific framework that considers multiscale and multispecies perspectives on the effects of firebreaks on susceptibility to invasion leads to delays in the implementation of evidence-based IAS management initiatives. In this work, we will seek to investigate (i) the spatial dynamics of invasion and (ii) the functional (dis-)similarity between IAS and natives in communities and metacommunities on the margins of firebreaks, in two types of vegetation: Savanna and Seasonal Semideciduous Forest (SSF). The data will be obtained in the field, through surveys in the arboreal and herbaceous strata, in CUs in the Savanna and SSF areas, including native species and IAS. The design will be based on a double spatial scale: local scale (communities, established from transects) and regional scale (metacommunities, groups of communities close to each other). We will also seek (iii) to create a framework that adjusts the main hypotheses about biological invasions into a metacommunity perspective, aiming to reduce redundancy in terminology. (AU)