Invasiveness reshapes the historical pattern of carp trait evolution

Garen Guzmán-Rendón, Joaquín Cárcamo, Cristián E. Hernández, Jorge Avaria-Llautureo

Human-mediated invasions are increasingly recognised as contemporary ecological disturbances with profound impacts on microevolutionary processes. However, whether such impacts extend beyond microevolutionary change to alter long-term evolutionary trajectories across lineages remains poorly explored. Using a global phylogenetic analysis of nearly 1,400 carp species (freshwater fishes of the family Cyprinidae), we show that invasiveness accelerates body size evolution more than twofold compared to native species, and it predictably redirects the macroevolutionary trajectories of key traits. Invasiveness has systematically directed species toward larger body sizes, greater range sizes, and cooler thermal niches. These results indicate that human-mediated introductions are a short-term force that can reshape the long-term, historical pattern of trait evolution. Invasions are not merely contemporary events, they are actively remodelling how species evolve in the Anthropocene, with important implications for anticipating future invasions under global change.