Abstract
The cichlid Geophagus sveni, native to the Tocantins-Araguaia basin, was introduced into the floodplain of the upper Paraná River and has achieved great adaptive success, with high abundances there. In order to test whether the enemy release hypothesis is happening in the species invasion process, we collected 29 individuals in the Tocantins River (native range) and 29 in the Paraná River (non-native range) to compare their parasite fauna. In the Tocantins River, 17 fish were parasitized by at least one parasitic species, totaling eight species, comprising 54 individuals in total, while in the non-native fish from the Paraná River, we found only one representative of a parasitic species. We found differences in the weight-length relationship, where individuals from the Paraná River showed a greater investment in weight compared to individuals from the Tocantins River. Furthermore, we observed a significant positive relationship between weight and abundance of parasites in native fish. Our results indicate that the hypothesis of enemy release may be occurring in G. sveni, as the quantitative difference in endoparasites between sites shows that hosts from the Paraná River obtained a competitive advantage when arriving at the site.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to everyone who assisted us in the field and laboratory during the collection of fish, especially Dr. Eliane da Silva Fernandes and the entire team at the Federal University of Tocantins: Dr. Elineide Eugênio Marques, Dr. Thiago Nilton Alves Pereira and MsC. Alice Ferreira Araujo.
Funding
This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – CNPq with a Scientific Initiation scholarship and by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES with two scholarships (one for a master's degree and one for a doctorate). Author GM received research support from CNPq (process: 118649/2017–5) and authors ALL and CMM received research support from CAPES (processes: 88882.344478/2019–01 and 88881.361907/2019–01, respectively).
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Gabriela Michelan: Host collection and screening, analysis of parasite, general structure of the manuscript and discussion of results. Atsler Luana Lehun: General structure of the manuscript, statistical analysis and discussion of the results. Carolina Mendes Muniz: statistical analysis. Ricardo Massato Takemoto: supervised the research and contributed to the discussion and text review. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Michelan, G., Lehun, A.L., Muniz, C.M. et al. Absence of parasites in non-native fish from a Neotropical floodplain: evidence for the enemy release hypothesis. Environ Biol Fish 106, 1879–1888 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01463-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01463-5