Mechanisms regulating the establishment and impacts of non-native species in marine benthic communities

This PhD thesis aimed to investigate the mechanisms that regulate the establishment and spread of non-native species in marine benthic communities. More specifically, I studied through manipulative experiments how propagule traits, such as propagule pressure, quality and diversity, interact with different habitats and habitats subject to different levels of disturbance. Moreover, I investigated how biotic interactions between a native engineer species and a non-native species vary according to an environmental stress at different spatial scales. Finally, I assessed how carry-over effects from nutrient enrichment in winter affected the recovery from die-back in spring and summer of an invasive seaweed. The results of this thesis have been published in two journals when this thesis was submitted.