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The spread, establishment and impacts of the spiny water flea, Bythotrephes longimanus, in temperate North America: a synopsis of the special issue

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Abstract

More than most sub-disciplines of ecology, the study of biological invasions is characterized by breadth rather than by depth. Studies of expanding ranges of invaders are common, as are post-invasion case studies, but we rarely have a deep understanding of the dynamics and regulators of the processes of invasion and resultant ecological transformations. This is unfortunate because such depth may well be needed to develop targeted, knowledge-based, management plans. In this collection we provide this needed depth of study of the key aspects of the invasion process for the spiny water flea, Bythotrephes longimanus. We do so by presenting the results of the work conducted by researchers in the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network (CAISN), and several of their American and European collaborators over the past half decade. Given its rapid spread in the Great Lakes basin in North America, and the decreases in pelagic biodiversity that have ensued, the last decade has witnessed a surge of research on Bythotrephes. In this collection we learn much about mechanisms and dynamics of its spread, about the key role of humans in that spread, about the importance of Allee effects to establishment and persistence, about choices and parameterization of risk assessment models, about the value of comparing “effects” in native and invaded regions, about complex probable interactions of the invasion with impending changes in the climate, and about the regulators of the invader’s abundance and impacts. There should be much of interest in the collection for aquatic ecologists and invading species biologists alike.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the NSERC Canadian Aquatic Invading Species Network and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment for their support of Bythotrephes research in Canada, and for funding the 2009 Bythotrephes workshop at Dorset, Ontario, at which the majority of the authors of this special issue compared their Bythotrephes research, and at which the idea for this special issue blossomed. We thank Julia Dewing for her secretarial, administrative, and organizational work. The co-editors’ work was greatly simplified by her competence, hard work and joyful spirit. MAL gratefully acknowledges a Canada Research Chair, and BL, NDY and MAL acknowledge NSERC Discovery Grants for support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Norman D. Yan

  2. Dorset Environmental Science Centre, Dorset, ON, P0A 1E0, Canada

    Norman D. Yan

  3. Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada

    Brian Leung

  4. Centre for Mathematical Biology Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G1, Canada

    Mark A. Lewis

  5. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G1, Canada

    Mark A. Lewis

  6. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 13 Natural Resources Building, East Lansing, MI, 48824-1222, USA

    Scott D. Peacor

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  1. Norman D. Yan
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Correspondence to Norman D. Yan.

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Yan, N.D., Leung, B., Lewis, M.A. et al. The spread, establishment and impacts of the spiny water flea, Bythotrephes longimanus, in temperate North America: a synopsis of the special issue. Biol Invasions 13, 2423–2432 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-011-0069-9

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