Niche differentiation among invasive Ponto-Caspian Chelicorophium species (Crustacea, Amphipoda, Corophiidae) by food particle size

  • Péter Borza
  • Thomas Huber
  • Patrick Leitner
  • Nadine Remund
  • Wolfram Graf
Article
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Abstract

After Chelicorophium curvispinum, two other Ponto-Caspian tube-dwelling, filter-feeding amphipod species (Chelicorophium robustum and Chelicorophium sowinskyi) have colonized several catchments in Central and Western Europe in recent decades. To reveal the mechanism of niche differentiation among them, we measured the mesh sizes of their filtering apparatus and analyzed multi-habitat sampling data from the River Danube using RDA-based variance partitioning between environmental and spatial explanatory variables. Morphometric data showed a clear differentiation among the species by filter mesh size (C. curvispinum > C. robustum > C. sowinskyi). Field data also indicated the relevance of suspended matter; however, the mere quantity of suspended solids included in the analysis could not explain the abundance patterns effectively. Current velocity, substrate types, and total nitrogen content also had a non-negligible effect; however, their role in the niche differentiation of the species is not evident. In summary, differences in their filter mesh sizes indicate a niche differentiation by food particle size among the invasive Chelicorophium species, allowing their stable coexistence given sufficient size variability in their food source. Consequently, the two recent invaders increase the effectiveness of resource utilization, resulting in a more intensive benthic–pelagic coupling in the colonized ecosystems.

Keywords

Benthic–pelagic coupling Filter-feeding Invasion impact River Danube Suspended matter 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

Joint Danube Survey 3 was organized by the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). We would like to thank everyone involved in the organization, field work, and evaluation of the survey for their effort, and Zsuzsanna Trábert for her assistance during the microscopy. This work was supported by the MARS project (Managing Aquatic ecosystems and water Resources under multiple Stress) funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme, grant agreement no: 603378, and the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (GINOP) 2.3.2-15-2016-00019 grant. Péter Borza was supported by the Scholarship of the Scholarship Foundation of the Republic of Austria for Post-docs from October 2013 until March 2014 (funding organization: Österreichischer Austauschdienst GmbH on behalf of and financed by the Scholarship Foundation of the Republic of Austria).

Supplementary material

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Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 28 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.GINOP Sustainable Ecosystems GroupMTA Centre for Ecological ResearchTihanyHungary
  2. 2.Danube Research InstituteMTA Centre for Ecological ResearchBudapestHungary
  3. 3.Department of Water, Atmosphere and Environment, Institute for Hydrobiology and Water ManagementBOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life SciencesViennaAustria
  4. 4.Info fauna – CSCFNeuchâtelSwitzerland

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