Abstract

PEREZ, Julio E; ALFONSI, Carmen; SALAZAR, Sinatra  and  MUNOZ, Carlos. Ecological, genetic and epigenetic basis for bioinvasions. Saber [online]. 2015, vol.27, n.2, pp.167-177. ISSN 1315-0162.

From the moment small groups of individuals are introduced and become incorporated into a receptor environment, in addition to their obvious advantageous characteristics as potential invaders, complex interactions between the environment and genetic and epigenetic mechanisms arise to either thwart or foster the invasion. To understand invasions, different kinds of mechanisms that would allow the introduced organisms to become invasive in their new environments must be analyzed: enemy release, mutualist release, allelopathy, Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis, breakdown of biotic regulation, empty niches, propagule pressure, genetic variation increase (by means of hybridization, genome and gene duplication, endosymbiosis, transposition, somatic mutations, mitotic recombinations, small regulatory RNAs), purge, adaptive mutations, phenotypic plasticity, and epigenetic changes. These processes are critical to explaining the success of some alien species in new environments.

Keywords : Invasive species; phenotypic plasticity; epigenetic changes.

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