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Water transparency affects the survival of the medusa stage of the invasive freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii

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Abstract

Craspedacusta sowerbii is a global invader of inland waters, but little is known on what environmental factors control its colonization success. We hypothesized that water transparency and thus, exposure to UV radiation are relevant for the colonization success of this relatively transparent invasive hydroid. Here we used field and laboratory experiments to assess the effect of natural solar radiation and artificial UV radiation on the medusa stage of C. sowerbii across natural and simulated water transparency gradients in three Chilean Patagonian lakes. Short-term exposure of the jellyfish to artificial UV radiation under low Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) treatments induced mortality and caused sublethal effects such as swimming anomalies and production of reactive oxygen species. Outdoor exposure of jellyfish to full solar radiation in the most transparent water (Lake Ranco; DOC = 0.6 mg l−1) resulted in almost complete mortality. However, higher DOC contents provided partial or almost complete protection against the adverse impact of UV radiation. Overall, our findings provide evidence of the role of underwater light conditions in the underlying mechanisms that may favor the invasion of this gelatinous alien species in inland waters. The results imply that under the current “brownification” of lakes, an increase in water color might provide more favorable conditions for the invasion process of this hydroid.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Fondecyt 1161129 (to IG and PH) and DID-UACh S-2016-37 (to LC). The study was carried in the context of the FONDAP IDEAL 15150003 (IG and PH). Participation of RS was possible due to Specific Agreement between the Aquatic Photobiology of the University of Innsbruck, Austria and the Plankton Ecology Laboratory of the Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh), Chile. We thank Dr. L.N. Santos and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped us to improve the manuscript. The assistance provided by A. Hernández, G. González, and D. Osman in the fieldwork campaigns is greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias, Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, 5090000, Valdivia, Chile

    Luciano Caputo, Pirjo Huovinen & Iván Gómez

  2. Centro de Estudios en Ecología y Limnología, Geolimnos, Chile

    Luciano Caputo

  3. Centro FONDAP de Investigación en Dinámica de Ecosistemas de Altas Latitudes (IDEAL), Campus Isla Teja, 5090000, Valdivia, Chile

    Pirjo Huovinen & Iván Gómez

  4. Laboratory of Aquatic Photobiology and Plankton Ecology, Institute of Ecology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

    Ruben Sommaruga

  5. Red Iberoamericana para la formulación y aplicación de protocolos de evaluación del estado ecológico, manejo y restauración de ríos, IBEPECOR-CYTED, Saragossa, Spain

    Luciano Caputo

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  1. Luciano Caputo
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  2. Pirjo Huovinen
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  3. Ruben Sommaruga
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  4. Iván Gómez
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Correspondence to Luciano Caputo.

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Guest editors: John E. Havel, Sidinei M. Thomaz, Lee B. Kats, Katya E. Kovalenko & Luciano N. Santos / Aquatic Invasive Species II

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Caputo, L., Huovinen, P., Sommaruga, R. et al. Water transparency affects the survival of the medusa stage of the invasive freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii. Hydrobiologia 817, 179–191 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3520-4

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