Frontiers of Biogeography

Climate change is driving a rapid but highly variable redistribution of life on Earth, comparable in scale and magnitude to changes historically only seen over tens of thousands of years. Despite increased research effort, the complex mechanisms driving these changes in geographical distribution of species, or ‘range shifts’, remain only superficially understood. Attempts to understand the processes underpinning species responses are hampered by the paucity of comprehensive, longterm datasets, few theoretical frameworks, and lack of strategic direction and cross-fertilisation with related ecological fields. As an emerging, dynamic field, range shift ecology would benefit from integrating concepts and approaches from other related, more established areas of research, such as invasion ecology. Here, we use a systematic literature review and bibliographic analysis to assess the level of knowledge exchange between range shift ecology and invasion ecology. We found that while the two fields are inherently strongly related, the level of exchange and integration of ideas via citation networks does not reflect the closeness of the fields in terms of concepts, theories, and practice. Although range shift papers cite invasion papers more often than vice versa, the citation rate is generally quite low for both. These findings are evidence of the increasing need to move away from discipline-focused interpretation and communication of scientific results, towards greater research integration and connection between related ecological fields. Increased knowledge and data exchange between range shift and invasion fields could improve mechanistic understanding of range shifts and species invasions under climate change, enhance the predictive capacity of models and better inform management and conservation efforts.