Biological Invasions: Reptiles and Amphibians

Biological invasions are increasing globally and are a primary threat to native ecosystems. Declines in native biodiversity due to invaders, including reptiles and amphibians, through competition, predation, hybridization, and introduction of parasites and pathogens have been documented and are a significant concern for native wildlife. While research and management efforts targeting invasive reptiles and amphibians are on the rise, these efforts are often hindered due to information gaps concerning the biology of these invaders, difficulty detecting cryptic invasive taxa, lack of effective control tools, few methodologies to assess control efforts, and absence of funding or infrastructure. Research addressing these challenges is needed to increase our understanding of reptile and amphibian invasion risk and pathways, improve our ability to effectively manage invasions, and provide information to aid science-based decision-making by natural resource managers. Conversely, while invasive herpetofauna are often successful in their introduced range many of these species face declines within their native range for a multitude of reasons, paradoxically, including adverse effects due to invasive species. Therefore, attention is warranted to understand how biological invasions impact native reptiles and amphibians. This paradigm presents a novel opportunity to further our understanding of how reptiles and amphibians behave as invaders and conversely, how native herpetofauna respond to invasions.

The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a forum for advancing the field of invasion biology concerning reptiles and amphibians with a focus that is two-fold including 1) examining reptiles and amphibians as invasive species and 2) understanding how native herpetofauna respond to invaded systems. Increasing our understanding of the mechanisms by which reptile and amphibian invasions affect native ecosystems may elucidate patterns within and among invasions of amphibian and reptile species. This may aid development of a common framework to address challenges precluding effective management, guide our ability to mitigate or prevent adverse impacts of these invaders, and provide science-based information to inform policy and regulation. As invasive species are a primary threat to native reptile and amphibian diversity, we also aim to further explore and identify mechanisms through which biological invasions affect native herpetofauna, with the goal of identifying ways to prevent or mitigate these impacts.

Themes of interest to address may involve research, management, outreach and communication, and policy concerning biological invasions and reptiles and amphibians. Topics should address herpetofauna as their focal species, either from the position of reptiles and amphibians as invaders, or as taxa being impacted by invasions. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following: ecological and economic impacts, emerging parasites and pathogens, altered disease dynamics, threats to human health and safety, methods to assess management efforts, statistical modelling to estimate abundance and detection, development and use of innovative tools to increase detection and removal, studies addressing ecological and evolutionary processes during invasions, development of Early Detection and Rapid Response monitoring programs, outreach and communication efforts, social-ecological dynamics of species management, policy and regulations, invasion pathways, range expansions, risk assessment methodologies, response of herpetofauna to global change stressors, biology, physiology, and/or genetics of invaders and impacted reptiles and amphibians, and identifying impacts of biological invasions on native herpetofauna. Manuscript types sought include original research, case reports, and commentaries.

Keywords: invasive species, herpetofauna, amphibians, reptiles, monitoring, range expansions, invasion pathways, Early Detection, Rapid Response

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.