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Condition status and parasite infection of Neogobius kessleri and N. melanostomus (Gobiidae) in their native and non-native area of distribution of the Danube River

  • Original Article
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Ecological Research

Abstract

The success of introduced species is often facilitated by escape from the effects of natural predators and parasites. Introduced species can profit from this favourable situation, attaining higher population densities and greater individual sizes in novel areas. In this study, somatic condition and parasite infection were compared between native and non-native populations of Neogobius kessleri Günther; introduced only within the interconnected Danube and Rhine River system, and N. melanostomus (Pallas); widely introduced throughout several river systems in Europe and North America. Higher values of Fulton’s condition factor were observed in non-native populations of both goby species. Neogobius melanostomus attained higher gonadosomatic index values in non-native populations, indicating potential increased investment in reproduction in its new area. A lower splenosomatic index was observed in non-native populations, especially in N. melanostomus. Parasite infracommunity richness and mean abundance were higher in N. kessleri in both native and non-native populations, suggesting higher susceptibility of N. kessleri to these parasites. Non-native populations of both hosts showed higher infra-community richness as a result of acquiring parasites native to the new area, but lower parasite abundance. Differences in success of the introduction and establishment in new areas between the two fish species may be associated with a relatively low parasite infection rate and a higher gonadosomatic index in non-native populations of N. melanostomus in comparison to N. kessleri.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Ichthyoparasitology, Centre of Excellence No. LC 522. We would like to thank staff of the National Park Donau-Auen for sampling permission, Teodora Trichkova, Milen Vassilev, Jaroslav Černý and Hubert Keckeis for help with fish sampling; Zdenka Valová, Radim Blažek, Markéta Dušková and Karolína Rohlenová for help with parasite dissections, Martin Reichard for useful comments and Carl Smith and Seth White for English correction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Vertebrate Biology, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, 603 65, Brno, Czech Republic

    Markéta Ondračková, Kateřina Francová, Matej Polačik & Pavel Jurajda

  2. Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Markéta Ondračková, Kateřina Francová & Martina Dávidová

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  1. Markéta Ondračková
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  2. Kateřina Francová
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  3. Martina Dávidová
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  4. Matej Polačik
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  5. Pavel Jurajda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Markéta Ondračková.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 List of parasite species found in native and non-native populations of Neogobius kessleri and N. melanostomus
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Ondračková, M., Francová, K., Dávidová, M. et al. Condition status and parasite infection of Neogobius kessleri and N. melanostomus (Gobiidae) in their native and non-native area of distribution of the Danube River. Ecol Res 25, 857–866 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-010-0716-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-010-0716-0

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