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Non-native Fish Occurrence and Biomass in 1943 Western Palearctic Lakes and Reservoirs and their Abiotic and Biotic Correlates

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Abstract

Invasion of non-native species is considered a major threat to global biodiversity. Here we present a comprehensive overview of the occurrence, richness and biomass contribution of non-native fish species in 1943 standing water bodies from 14 countries of the Western Palearctic, based on standardised fish catches by multi-mesh gillnetting. We expected strong geographical gradients to emerge in the occurrence of non-natives. We further hypothesised that the contribution by non-natives to the local fish community biomass was correlated with local richness and the trophic level of native and non-native species. Non-native fish species occurred in 304 of 1943 water bodies (16%). If the average number of occupied water bodies per country was weighted by number of water bodies per country, the grand mean occurrence of non-natives in Western Palearctic water bodies was 10%. Exotic (non-native to the Palearctic) and translocated (non-native only to parts of the Palearctic) species were found in 164 (8.4%) or 235 (12.1%) of the water bodies, respectively. The occurrence and local richness of non-native fish species increased with temperature, precipitation and lake area and were substantially higher in reservoirs than in natural lakes. High local biomass contributions of non-native species were strongly correlated with low richness of native species and high richness of non-native species, whereas the trophic level of the fish species had only a weak effect. Single non-native species rarely dominated community biomass, but high biomass contributions and thus strong community and ecosystem impacts can be expected if several non-native species accumulate in a water body.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Samo Podgornik for providing the data from the Slovenian lakes and Jörg Freyhof for advice on the status of European fish species. Two anonymous reviewers provided several comments, which helped improving the text. CT is a CONICET researcher. Studies carried out on Turkish lakes were supported by TÜBİTAK-ÇAYDAG (projects 105Y332 and 110Y125), Turkey, and Middle East Technical University (METU)-BAP program (BAP projects between 2009 and 2012). EJ, MB and CA were supported by MARS (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress, EU 7th Framework Programme, Contract No.: 603378, http://www.mars-project.eu). KH was supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Dnr 10/179) and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management through contract for the research programme WATERS. TK was supported by Environmental Investment Centre KIK, 2014, project nr. 8603. TM and SB were supported by a project of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, Me 1686/7-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Limnología, INIBIOMA CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Carolina Trochine

  2. Aquatic Ecology Group, BETA Tecnio Centre, University of Vic, Central University of Catalonia, Catalonia, Vic, Spain

    Sandra Brucet, Ignasi Arranz & Lluís Benejam

  3. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, ICREA, 08010, Barcelona, Spain

    Sandra Brucet

  4. Irstea UR RECOVER, 3275 Route de Cézanne, 13182, Aix En Provence, France

    Christine Argillier

  5. Limnology Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Meryem Beklioglu

  6. Kemal Kurdaş Ecological Research and Training Stations, Lake Eymir, Middle East Technical University, Oran Mahallesi, Ankara, Turkey

    Meryem Beklioglu

  7. Instituto Superior de Agronomia, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisbon, Portugal

    Teresa Ferreira

  8. Norwegian Institute for Nature Reasearch, PO 5685, Suppen, 7485, Trondheim, Norway

    Trygve Hesthagen

  9. Department of Aquatic Resources, Institute of Freshwater Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Stångholmsvägen 2, 17893, Drottningholm, Sweden

    Kerstin Holmgren

  10. Department of Bioscience and Arctic Research Centre (ARC), Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Erik Jeppesen

  11. Sino-Danish Centre for Education and Research, Beijing, China

    Erik Jeppesen

  12. Inland Fisheries Ireland, 3044 Lake Drive Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Ireland

    Fiona Kelly

  13. Centre for Limnology IEAS, Estonian University of Life Sciences, 5D Kreutzwaldi St, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Teet Krause

  14. Natural Resources Institute Finland, Survontie 9 A, 40500, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Martti Rask

  15. National Research Council, Institute of Ecosystem Study, L.go Tonolli 50, 28922, Verbania, Pallanza, Italy

    Pietro Volta

  16. Lake Ecosystems Group, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 4AP, UK

    Ian J. Winfield

  17. Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587, Berlin, Germany

    Thomas Mehner

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  1. Carolina Trochine
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Correspondence to Thomas Mehner.

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Authors’ Contributions

SB and TM conceived of study; CT and TM analysed the major dataset; SB, CA, IA, MB, LB, TF, TH, KH, EJ, FK, TK, MR, PV, IJW and TM performed research and analysed local data; CT and TM wrote the paper; all authors commented on and approved the final manuscript.

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Trochine, C., Brucet, S., Argillier, C. et al. Non-native Fish Occurrence and Biomass in 1943 Western Palearctic Lakes and Reservoirs and their Abiotic and Biotic Correlates. Ecosystems 21, 395–409 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-017-0156-6

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