Introduction histories and climatic distribution patterns among three congeneric invasive anurans

<p>Human activity often results in translocation of species from their native range to new locations where they can become established. Climate conditions in these new locations, however, are often different from those under which the species evolved. Understanding the introduction histories of invasive species and the patterns associated with their ability to establish under novel climatic conditions provide valuable insights, as biological invasions are a serious threat to global biodiversity. Here, we use publicly available occurrence data and published locality records to reconstruct the invasion history of three congeneric frogs native to the Caribbean. These species are <em>Eleutherodactylus coqui, Eleutherodactylus planirostris, </em>and E<em>leuetherodactylus johnstonei</em>. The study uses records from the entire introduction history of each species, and it focuses on each species' global native and non-native range. To compare the climate conditions in their native and non-native ranges, we use the WorldClim database to characterize the climate of the location for each species’ presence record. The reconstruction of the introduction histories revealed species-specific translocation pathways and timing. However, we found that all three species have introduced and established populations in locations with significantly different climatic conditions from their native range. These findings suggest these species’ share the ability to expand their climatic niche. Plasticity under novel environmental conditions, rapid adaptation, or both could underlie the expansion outside of their native range. Overall, this study highlights how, when introduced to a new area, closely related species from the same geographic area may follow diverse introduction pathways and can vary both in their establishment success and the climatic conditions they can tolerate in their introduced range. </p>