Hypothesis Description: Darwin’s Naturalisation Hypothesis

In this contribution of the Hypothesis Description series, we provide an overview of one of the longest-standing hypotheses in invasion science: Darwin's naturalisation hypothesis. We present a brief summary of past definitions and propose the revised definition “high phylogenetic distance between non-native species and the recipient community increases invasion success”. This formulation follows the basic form ‘subject – relationship – object’, enabling clarity for future research and computational applications in invasion biology. We also provide formalised definitions for previous formulations of the hypothesis and identify both related and opposite hypotheses to Darwin’s naturalisation hypothesis.