Disturbance-mediated invasions are dependent on community resource abundance

Disturbances can facilitate biological invasions, with the associated increase in resource availability being a proposed cause. Here, we experimentally test the effects of disturbance regime and resource abundance on invasion success. We invaded populations of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens with two invader morphotypes in a factorial design containing five disturbance frequencies and three resource levels. As resident populations were altered by the treatments, we additionally tested their effect on invader success. Disturbance frequency and resource abundance interacted to affect the success of both invaders. For one, success was positively affected by disturbance under high resources but negatively under low. For the other, disturbance negatively affected success under high resource abundance but not under low or medium. Resident population changes did not alter invader success beyond direct treatment effects. Overall, how disturbance affects invasion success is dependent on community resource abundance, and this interaction acts differently on invaders with different life-histories.