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Behavioural traits are key to promote invasion success because they are easier to adjust to changing environmental conditions than morphological or life history traits. Often, research has overlooked variance in behavioural traits within populations or has assumed it to be mere noise. However, a recent focus towards individual variation of behaviour of successful invaders has revealed new and more profound insights into the invasion process. Behavioural variation within a population could lead to more successful invasions, as they include individuals with diverse behaviours, which ensures at least some individuals could be able to cope with changing conditions. The aim of this research was to examine if invasive guppies (Poecilia reticulata) present within‐population differences in their sociability (time spent associating with a shoal) when interacting with conspecifics or heterospecifics. Guppies presented significant differences in their individual tendencies to associate with conspecific or heterospecific shoals. There were among‐individual differences in the time spent shoaling with conspecifics versus heterospecifics, where most individuals did not differ in their sociability with conspecifics or heterospecifics, and only 22% of individuals presented a higher tendency to associate with conspecifics. Our results are the first to show individual differences in fish' tendencies to associate with heterospecifics among individuals of the same population and rearing conditions. Given that associations with heterospecific natives have been found to be as beneficial as associations with conspecifics for invaders, our results contribute to the understanding of mechanisms behind heterospecific sociability between natives and invaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterospecific sociability could enhance invasion success in social species since social non‐natives usually belong to small founding populations during the early stages of invasion. The twospot livebearer (Pseudoxiphophorus bimaculatus) is native to Central America and southern Mexico and is recently recognised as invasive in the Mexican Central Plateau, where it poses a threat to native species. Here, we evaluated twospot livebearer sociability towards either a conspecific pair or a shoal of four fish with one of four possible compositions, all conspecifics or two conspecifics combined with either two guppies, two porthole livebearers or two twoline skiffias. In a second experiment, foraging time, latency to feed, first fish to begin foraging and aggressive interactions were recorded under the same social conditions used in the sociability experiment, with body size included as a covariate in both experiments. All focal twospot livebearers spent significantly more time with the given shoals rather than with the available space in the aquarium. They showed a higher tendency to associate with small shoals of conspecifics than with pairs. Larger twospot livebearers associated more, regardless of the social condition. Twospot livebearer fed more with porthole livebearers, less with guppies and similarly with twoline skiffias. Latency to forage did not vary significantly between social conditions. Twospot livebearers were involved in more aggressive interactions when with guppies or porthole livebearers than when with native twoline skiffias or conspecifics. Twospot livebearers could gain benefits from associating with natives and conspecifics, but not with other invasive poeciliids. Heterospecific shoaling behaviour with natives may enhance invasion success during early stages when conspecifics are scarce while associating with other invasive poeciliids could lead to increased competition. Further research is needed on heterospecific interactions of non‐natives to better understand their behavioural role in invasion likelihood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most invasions start with the introduction of a few individuals and the majority fail to establish and become invasive populations. A possible explanation for this is that some species are subject to Allee effects—disadvantages of low densities—and fail to perform vital activities due to the low availability of conspecifics. We propose that 'facilitation' from native individuals to non-natives through heterospecific sociability could enhance chances of the latter establishing in novel environments by helping them avoid Allee effects and even reducing the minimum number of non-native individuals necessary to achieve the density for a viable population (the Allee effect threshold). There is evidence from experiments carried out with freshwater fish, snails, lizards, mussels and bird that supports the idea of heterospecific sociability between native and non-native species as a process to promote invasion success. We propose that to understand invasion success in social non-native species we need to investigate how they integrate into the recipient community. Furthermore, to manage them, it may be necessary to reduce population density not just below the Allee effect threshold but also to understand how natives could help them shift the conspecific Allee effect threshold to their benefit. This article is part of the theme issue 'Mixed-species groups and aggregations: shaping ecological and behavioural patterns and processes'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals join a group when the benefits of doing so outweigh the disadvantages. Typically, groups are composed by individuals of the same species, as sharing the benefits with relatives dilutes the disadvantages of being part of a group. However, mixed species shoals do occur in the wild. The Mexican Goodeidae are a clade of viviparous topminnows endemic to Central Mexico. Survival of most species is under threat, with some already extinct in nature. Causes of decline include the introduction of exotic species. These include viviparous topminnows of the Family Poeciliidae, such as the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859), as well as the twospot- (Pseudoxiphophorus bimaculatus Heckel, 1848) and porthole livebearer (Poeciliopsis gracilis Heckel, 1848), both native to the Mexican costal slopes but frequently translocated to the central Highlands. Guppies and goodeids readily associate with each other, and guppies entering such associations improve their foraging efficiency. This has been hailed as evidence of a social skill that favours the establishment of viable guppy populations across the globe. It is as yet unknown whether this improvement in guppy foraging efficiency comes at a cost for the interacting goodeids. Here, we investigated how sharing resources with poeciliid invaders affects the foraging efficiency of the goodeid twoline skiffia (Skiffia bilineata Bean, 1887). We measured the time it took them to locate food and the total time spent eating when part of a mixed species shoal that included either a species of exotic poeciliids (guppies, twospot- or porthole livebearers), or another goodeid (Goodea atripinnis). We also measured foraging efficiency of twoline Skiffia in single-species (conspecific) shoals as a control. We found that the total foraging time of twoline skiffias is reduced when shoaling with guppies and twospot livebearers compared to when associating with conspecifics. We provide evidence to support the idea that native species' fitness is reduced when invaders with similar ecological requirements occupy their habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociability in animals provides benefits such as reduced predation risk and increased foraging efficiency. During the early stages of invasion, individuals are often vulnerable as part of a small population (Allee effects); associations with native heterospecifics could mitigate some of the disadvantages of small population size and thereby increase the chances of establishment success. Here we explored two potential benefits of heterospecific association to guppies, Poecilia reticulata , a very successful invasive species. We first investigated whether guppies can exploit visual cues from morphologically similar heterospecific individuals as effectively as those from conspecifics. We next tested whether willingness to explore an unfamiliar environment depends on whether guppies are accompanied by conspecifics or heterospecifics. Our results show that guppies can acquire information on food availability from another species, as well as from conspecifics. We also found that guppies engaged in exploratory behaviour more quickly if the habitat had plants in it, and were more likely to associate if it was unstructured; there was, however, no difference in the frequency with which the focal fish was accompanied by a conspecific or a heterospecific individual. These results show that guppies respond to these heterospecifics as they do with conspecifics. Our study reveals some of the traits that could make an invader successful and potentially help to identify species with a higher potential to become established outside their native range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]