Writing Scientific Research Articles: Strategy and Steps

 
Journal of Ecology
 
 2008, 
 
96
 
, 68–77
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01319.x
 
© 2007 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2007 British Ecological Society
 
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
 
Short- and long-term effects of disturbance and 
propagule pressure on a biological invasion
 
Kevin H. Britton-Simmons* and Karen C. Abbott†
 
Department of  Ecology and Evolution, The University of  Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
 
Summary
 
1.
 
Invading species typically need to overcome multiple limiting factors simultaneously in order to
become established, and understanding how such factors interact to regulate the invasion process
remains a major challenge in ecology.
 
2.
 
We used the invasion of marine algal communities by the seaweed 
 
Sargassum muticum
 
 as a study
system to experimentally investigate the independent and interactive effects of disturbance and
propagule pressure in the short term. Based on our experimental results, we parameterized an
integrodifference equation model, which we used to examine how disturbances created by different
benthic herbivores influence the longer term invasion success of 
 
S. muticum
 
.