Invasion dynamics of the European Collared-Dove are explained by combined effects of habitat and climate

Global biodiversity is increasingly threatened by the spread of invasive
species. Understanding the mechanisms influencing the initial colonization
and persistence of invaders is therefore needed if conservation actions
are to prevent new invasions or strive to slow their spread. The Eurasian
collared-dove (Streptopelia decaocto, EUCO) is one of the most successful
avian invasive species in North America; however, to our knowledge, no
study has simultaneously examined the role that climate-matching, human
activity, directional propagation, and local density have in this invasion
process. Our research expands upon a cellular-automata-based hierarchical
model developed to assess directional invasion dynamics to further
quantify the impacts of climate, elevation, and land cover type on the
spread of EUCO in North America. Our results suggest that EUCO’s dispersal
patterns can largely be explained by the effects of habitat, climate, and
environmental conditions at different stages of the invasion process
rather than some innate preferred north-westerly spread. Specifically,
EUCO initially colonized warm and wet grassland habitats and tended to
persist in urban areas. We also found that while EUCO were more likely to
spread to the northeast of existing habitats, directional preference did
not drive persistence and recolonization events. These findings highlight
the importance of incorporating both neighbourhood effects and
environmental factors in the modelling of range-expanding species, adding
to the toolset available to researchers to model invasive species spread.
Further, our research demonstrates that historical records of invasive
species occurrences from citizen science projects can provide the data
resources needed to disentangle the characteristics driving species
invasion and enable predictions that are of critical importance to
resource managers.