Predicting the survivability of invasive species with mutualistic and competing interaction networks

Ecosystem can be abstracted as a complex network of interactions between species. We develop a mathematical framework to explore the survivability of alien species through the interaction between invasive species and local ecosystems. The proposed approach allows us to reduce N-dimensional systems involving symbiosis and competition into one-dimensional problem with mean-field theory, so as to reveal the invasion mechanism of alien species into the local interaction networks. Our results suggest that whether an alien species can invade successfully depends on the structure of the ecosystem as well as the change of interactions between species caused by alien species. The invasion process can be classified into four patterns according to the level of difficulty of invasive local ecosystems by alien species, which can help us better understand and intervene the spreading process of alien species.