Disturbance and recovery dynamics are characteristic features of many ecosystems. Disturbance dynamics are widely studied in ecology and conservation biology. Still, we know less about the ecological processes that drive ecosystem recovery. The ecological processes that mediate ecosystem recovery stand at the intersection of many theoretical frameworks. Range expansion theory is one of these complementary frameworks that can provide unique insights into the population-level processes that mediate ecosystem recovery, particularly fauna recolonization. Although the biodiversity patterns that follow the fauna recolonization of recovering forests have been well described in the literature, the ecological processes at the population level that drive these patterns remain conspicuously unknown. In this study, we tested three fundamental predictions of range expansion theory during the recolonization of recovering forests in Puerto Rico by a shade specialist anole, Anolis gundlachi. Range expansion theory predicts that individuals at the early stages of recolonization (i.e., younger forests) would have a high prevalence of dispersive traits, experience less density dependence, and suffer less parasitism. To test these predictions, we conducted a chronosequence study applying space-for-time substitution where we compared phenotypic traits (i.e., body size, body condition, and relative limb size), population density, population growth rates, and Plasmodium parasitism rates among lizard populations living in young (<30 years), mid (~40–70 years), and old-growth forests (>75 years). Lizard populations in younger forests had lower densities, higher population growth rates, and lower rates of Plasmodium parasitism compared with old-growth forests. Still, while we found that individuals had larger body sizes, and longer forelimbs in young forests in one site, this result was not consistent among sites. This suggests a potential trade-off between the traits that provide a dispersal advantage during the initial stages of recolonization and those that are advantageous to establish in novel environmental conditions. Overall, our study emphasizes the suitability of range expansion theory to describe fauna recolonization but also highlights that the ecological processes that drive recolonization are time-dependent, complex, and nuanced.

中文翻译：

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从范围扩张理论的角度看当地灭绝的加勒比变色蜥对次生林的重新殖民

干扰和恢复动态是许多生态系统的特征。干扰动力学在生态学和保护生物学中得到广泛研究。尽管如此，我们对推动生态系统恢复的生态过程知之甚少。调节生态系统恢复的生态过程处于许多理论框架的交叉点。范围扩张理论是这些补充框架之一，它可以为介导生态系统恢复的种群水平过程提供独特的见解，特别是动物群的重新殖民。尽管森林恢复后动物群重新殖民所产生的生物多样性模式已在文献中得到很好的描述，但驱动这些模式的人口层面的生态过程仍然明显未知。在这项研究中，我们测试了遮荫专家Anolis Gundlachi在波多黎各恢复森林的重新殖民过程中范围扩张理论的三个基本预测。范围扩张理论预测，处于再殖民早期阶段（即较年轻的森林）的个体将具有较高的分散性特征，经历较少的密度依赖性，并遭受较少的寄生。为了检验这些预测，我们进行了一项应用时空替换的时间序列研究，比较了蜥蜴的表型特征（即体型、身体状况和相对肢体大小）、种群密度、种群增长率和疟原虫寄生率生活在幼林（<30 岁）、中期（~40-70 岁）和老年林（>75 岁）的种群。与老年森林相比，年轻森林中的蜥蜴种群密度较低，种群增长率较高，疟原虫寄生率较低。尽管如此，虽然我们发现在一个地点的幼林中个体具有更大的体型和更长的前肢，但这一结果在不同地点之间并不一致。这表明在重新定殖的初始阶段提供分散优势的性状与有利于在新环境条件下建立的性状之间存在潜在的权衡。总的来说，我们的研究强调了范围扩张理论对描述动物群再殖民的适用性，但也强调了推动再殖民的生态过程是时间依赖性的、复杂的和微妙的。