Publication details
Non-native freshwater Molluscs in the Czech Republic: time course and environmental predictor.
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The growing impact of non-native species invading native communities has been reported from many areas across the world. The freshwater ecosystems are at risk due to the global movement of ballast water, the connecting large river by artificial canals or others anthropogenic activities as fishing. These all lead to a dramatic increase in number of non-native species in Central Europe over the last decades. Although the spreading of alien mollusc species can jeopardize many native species, no attempt has been made to assemble and analyse an extensive dataset collected over a long-time span. So far, in the wild of the Czech Republic (Central Europe) eight non-native species of freshwater molluscs have been recorded. We assembled a dataset consisting of 1,783 sites with the presence of these non-native species recorded between 1891 and 2014. We aimed to explore the time course and spatial pattern of the invasions and to define some of the gross predictors of the occurrence of these species by categorizing their sites based on habitat type, elevation and distance from the nearest large river. The significant association between the number of non-native species recorded and the distance from the 8th and 9th-order river confirmed that large rivers can serve as important corridors for spreading of non-native species. Lowland non-natural standing waters and large rivers were found to be the most invaded habitat types, with the highest incidence rate recorded in the Elbe River basin. In contrast, hilly and mountain areas were notably less invaded as the number of records sharply decreased towards higher elevations for all studied species except Gyraulus parvus. The highest invasion rate was documented for Physa acuta and Potamopyrgus antipodarum, in contrast to two modern invaders (Menetus dilatatus and Corbicula fluminea) that had a much lower rate of colonisation. However, the other four species showing an intermediate rate of spreading were recorded for the first time both 70 years ago (Dreissena polymorpha and Ferrissia fragilis) and less than 20 years ago (Gyraulus parvus and Sinanodonta woodiana). |