Summary1. Predictions of the identities and ecological impacts of invasive alien species are critical for risk assessment, but presently we lack universal and standardized metrics that reliably predict the likelihood and degree of impact of such invaders (i.e. measurable changes in populations of affected species). This need is especially pressing for emerging and potential future invaders that have no invasion history. Such a metric would also ideally apply across diverse taxonomic and trophic groups. 2. We derive a new metric of invader ecological impact that blends: (i) the classic Functional Response (FR; consumer per capita effect) and Numerical Response (NR; consumer population response) approaches to determining consumer impact, that is, the Total Response (TR = FR 9 NR), with; (ii) the 'Parker-Lonsdale equation' for invader impact, where Impact = Range 9 Abundance 9 Effect (per capita effect), into; (iii) a new metric, Relative Impact Potential (RIP), where RIP = FR 9 Abundance. The RIP metric is an invader/native ratio, where values >1 predict that invader ecological impact will occur, and increasing values above 1 indicate increasing impact. In addition, the invader/invader RIP ratio allows comparisons of the ecological impacts of different invaders. 2017, 54, 1259-1267 doi: 10.1111/1365-2664.12849 3. Across a diverse range of trophic and taxonomic groups, including predators, herbivores, animals and plants (22 invader/native systems with 47 individual comparisons), high-impact invaders were significantly associated with higher FRs compared to native trophic analogues. However, the RIP metric substantially improves this association, with 100% predictive power of high-impact invaders. 4. Further, RIP scores were significantly and positively correlated with two independent ecological impact scores for invaders, allowing prediction of the degree of impact of invasive alien species with the RIP metric. Finally, invader/invader RIP scores were also successful in identifying and associating with higher impacting invasive alien species. 5. Synthesis and applications. The Relative Impact Potential metric combines the per capita effects of invaders with their abundances, relative to trophically analogous natives, and is successful in predicting the likelihood and degree of ecological impact caused by invasive alien species. As the metric constitutes readily measurable features of individuals, populations and species across abiotic and biotic context-dependencies, even emerging and potential future invasive alien species can be assessed. The Relative Impact Potential metric can be rapidly utilized by scientists and practitioners and could inform policy and management of invasive alien species across diverse taxonomic and trophic groups. Journal of Applied Ecology

Invasive species management requires allocation of limited resources towards the proactive mitigation of those species that could elicit the highest ecological impacts. However, we lack predictive capacity with respect to the identities and degree of ecological impacts of invasive species. Here, we combine the relative per capita effects and relative field abundances of invader as compared to native species into a new metric, ''Relative Impact Potential'' (RIP), and test whether this metric can reliably predict high impact invaders. This metric tests the impact of invaders relative to the baseline impacts of natives on the broader ecological community. We first derived the functional responses (i.e. per capita effects) of two ecologically damaging invasive fish species in Europe, the Ponto-Caspian round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) and Asian topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva), and their native trophic analogues, the bullhead (Cottus gobio; also C. bairdi) and bitterling (Rhodeus amarus), towards several prey species. This establishes the existence and relative strengths of the predator-prey relationships. Then, we derived ecologically comparable field abundance estimates of the invader and native fish from surveys and literature. This establishes the multipliers for the above per capita effects. Despite both predators having known 123Biol Invasions (2017) 19:1653-1665 DOI 10.1007/s10530-017-1378 severe detrimental field impacts, their functional responses alone were of modest predictive power in this regard; however, incorporation of their abundances relative to natives into the RIP metric gave high predictive power. We present invader/native RIP biplots that provide an intuitive visualisation of comparisons among the invasive and native species, reflecting the known broad ecological impacts of the invaders. Thus, we provide a mechanistic understanding of invasive species impacts and a predictive tool for use by practitioners, for example, in risk assessments.

We used educational data mining to quantify student access of online feedback files and explore the underlying drivers of feedback file access in a learning management system (LMS). We collated LMS access logs for 32 individual pieces of assessment representing 1462 feedback files for 484 students (males = 45%, females = 55%) that originated across three undergraduate years, from 20 different degree pathways. Over a third of assessment feedback files (38%, 553 files) were never accessed by students. When students could obtain their assessment mark without opening the associated feedback file, 42% of feedback files were not accessed by students (513 of 1224 files). When assessment marks were integrated into the feedback file (and not reported within the LMS), the proportion of unopened feedback dropped significantly to only 17% of files (40 of 238 files). We uncovered strong gender‐specific differences in how students accessed feedback within the LMS that were dependent upon academic performance and the integration of marks within the feedback file. Poorly performing males were less likely to access feedback; however, integrating marks into the feedback files meant that males were over 27 times more likely to access the feedback file. In contrast, females exhibited a much weaker and more variable response to marks being reported within feedback files. Assessments with deadlines earlier in the semester were also viewed more often than those later in the semester.

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