Journal
BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS
Volume 15, Issue 9, Pages 2065-2079Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10530-013-0433-z
Keywords
Invasive alien species IAS; Electrofishing; Multi-mesh survey gill nets; CPUE; Cyprinids; Ecosystem functioning
Categories
Funding
- WISER (Water bodies in Europe: Integrative Systems to assess Ecological status and Recovery)
- European Union under the 7th Framework Programme [226273]
- INHABIT project [LIFE08 ENV/IT/000413]
- EU-FP7 project REFRESH
- CIRCE
- CRES
- CLEAR
- Danish Council for Independent Research: Natural Sciences [272-08-0406]
- 'Fondazione Comunitaria del VCO'
- Natural Environment Research Council [ceh010022] Funding Source: researchfish
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We present an example of how an invasion by a non-native cyprinid (common bream, Abramis brama (Pisces: Cyprinidae), hereafter bream) in a natural shallow lake in southern Europe (Lake Montorfano, northern Italy) may have adversely affected the state of the lake's ecosystem. In less than two decades, bream became the most abundant species and characterized by a stunted population with asymptotic length 33.5 cm, an estimated mean length at first maturity of 19.6 cm, a total mortality rate of 0.64 year(-1) and a diet overwhelmingly dominated by microcrustaceans. Following bream establishment, nutrients and phytoplankton biomass rose, the proportion of Cyanobacteria by numbers increased markedly and water transparency decreased. Total zooplankton abundance increased with a marked increase in small cladocerans and copepods, whereas the abundance of large herbivorous cladocerans did not change. The coverage of submerged macrophytes declined, as did the abundance of native pelagic zooplanktivorous fish. The composition of the fish community shifted towards a higher proportion of zoobenthivorous species, such as bream and pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus). Our results indicate that bream affected water quality through bottom-up mechanisms, while top-down effects were comparatively weak. Selective removal of bream and perhaps stocking of native piscivores might improve the ecological status of the lake.
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