Karolina Bacela-Spychalska

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Łódź

Dikerogammarus villosus (Sowinsky, 1894) is a Ponto–Caspian amphipod expanding in European freshwaters and posing a threat to biological diversity through several biological and behavioural traits, including high carnivory and voracity. The species spreads in Europe through two major corridors from two geographically and genetically different sourc...

Molecular traces are increasingly being applied to assess the presence of species and communities. Studies on environmental DNA (eDNA) have, to a large extent, become common practice in species detection, but less studies have compared biodiversity estimations with the more temporary environmental RNA (eRNA). This study compares metabarcoding resul...

Phenotypic variability is a key factor promoting the establishment and spread of invasive populations in new environments. The Ponto-Caspian region contains a diverse endemic fauna known for its exceptional environmental plasticity, with many species invading European waters. However, the extent to which the environment shapes the phenotypic variab...

Standardized terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science – a dynamic and rapidly evolving discipline – the proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardized framework for its development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with various discrep...

Non-indigenous species (NIS) contribute to the decrease of native species' diversity on a local and global scale. One of Europe's most significant donors of freshwater invasions is the Ponto-Caspian Region. Following the construction of artificial canals connecting isolated waterbodies and the resulting heavy boat traffic, the Ponto-Caspian Amphipo...

Standardized terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science — a dynamic and quickly evolving discipline — the rapid proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardized framework for its language development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with...

The microsporidian genus Nosema is primarily known to infect insects of economic importance stimulating high research interest, while other hosts remain understudied. Nosema granulosis is one of the formally described Nosema species infecting amphipod crustaceans, being known to infect only two host species. Our first aim was to characterize Nosema...

Non-indigenous species (NIS) contribute to the decrease of native species’ diversity on a local and global scale. One of Europe's most significant donors of freshwater invasions is the Ponto-Caspian region. Following the construction of artificial canals connecting isolated water bodies and resulting heavy boat traffic, the Ponto-Caspian Amphipoda...

Biological invasions may act as conduits for pathogen introduction. To determine which invasive non-native species pose the biggest threat, we must first determine the symbionts (pathogens, parasites, commensals, mutualists) they carry, via pathological surveys that can be conducted in multiple ways (i.e., molecular, pathological, and histological)...

Invasive non-native amphipods (Crustacea) are becoming a model system in which to explore the impact and diversity of invasive parasites - parasites that are carried along an invasion route with their hosts. Gammarus varsoviensis is a freshwater amphipod species that has a recently explored invasion history. We provide a histopathological survey fo...

We used a freshwater amphipod-microsporidian model (Ponto-Caspian hosts: Dikerogammarus villosus and D. haemobaphes, parasite: Cucumispora dikerogammari) to check whether parasites affect biological invasions by modulating behaviour and intra-and interspecific interactions between the invaders. We tested competition for shelter in conspecific and h...

Pond ecosystems are hotspots of freshwater biodiversity, often containing many rare and protected species that are not commonly found elsewhere (Harper et al. 2018;Harper et al. 2019). However, even if they constitute c.a. 30% of freshwaters by area, still not enough effort has been put into pond monitoring and management and pond ecosystems are he...

Parasites and other symbionts deeply influence host organisms, and no living organism can be considered to have evolved independent of its symbionts. The first step towards understanding symbiotic influences upon host organisms is a strong supporting knowledge of parasite/symbiont diversity. Parasites of freshwater amphipods are diverse, with Micro...

Background: Although the processes of co-evolution between parasites and their hosts are well known, evidence of co-speciation remains scarce. Microsporidian intracellular parasites, due to intimate relationships with their hosts and mixed mode of transmission (horizontal but also vertical, from mother to offspring), may represent an interesting bi...

Gammarus roeselii Gervais, 1835 is a morphospecies with a wide distribution range in Europe. The Balkan Peninsula is known as an area of pre-Pleistocene cryptic diversification within this taxon, resulting in at least 13 Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units (MOTUs). The morphospecies diversified there during Neogene and has probably invaded other...

This volume examines Evolution and Biogeography of Crustacea, one of the dominant groups of animals, especially in aquatic environments. The first part of this volume is dedicated to the explanation of the origins and successful establishment of the Crustacea in the oceans. In the second part the biogeography of the Crustacea is explored in order t...

The region of the Black, Caspian, and Azov seas are known both as (i) the place of extensive crustacean radiation dated to the times of Paratethys and Sarmatian basins, and (ii) present donor of alien and invasive taxa to many areas worldwide. One amphipod morphospecies, Dikerogammarus haemobaphes, is known both as native to rivers draining to the...

Since the mid- 20th century we have been living in a new geological epoch, Anthropocene, characterized by an overwhelming impact of human activity on the Earth’s ecosystems, leading to mass species extinction by habitat destruction, pollution, global climate warming, and homogenization of biota by intra- and intercontinental transfer of species. Cr...

Cryptorchestia garbinii Ruffo, Tarocco and Latella, 2014 (Amphipoda: Talitridae), a semiterrestrial amphipod, reported (as Orchestia cavimana Heller, 1865) from the Polish inland waters, e. g., the lowermost Vistula River, for the first time in 2009. Now, we have reported this species from the upper Oder River, which is c.a. 350 km SE from the clos...

The paper provides a new record of the North-American invasive amphipod Gammarus tigrinus from the Bornholm island (Denmark), accompanied by DNA barcodes. We found this species in two locations 9 km apart: 1. Baltic Sea in Svaneke, 2. Østersøen stream, Nexø. Our finding shows further range expansion of this species in the. However, taking into acco...

Chemical communication plays a significant role in the aquatic environment, enabling the mutual recognition of mates, predators and food items. Invasive species facing new communities are subjected to a huge variety of new scents. Their ability to recognize and interpret them adequately could be the reason of their successful establishment. We stud...

Background: Microsporidians are obligate endoparasites infecting taxonomically diverse hosts. Both vertical (from mother to eggs) and horizontal (between conspecifics or between species) transmission routes are known. While the former may promote co-speciation and host-specificity, the latter may promote shifts between host species. Among aquatic...

Background: The factual diversity of European freshwater crustaceans is scarcely known. This is particularly surprising taking into account their wide applicability in biomonitoring as well as in eco-toxicological and phylogeographical studies. Crustacea, particularly Malacostraca, play a fundamental role in functioning of freshwater ecosystems, be...

The study has shown that, in Central and Western Europe, Gammarus roeselii Gervais, 1835 (Gammaridae) is probably a postglacial newcomer from the Panonian Basin and Northern Balkans.

Numerous species of microsporidian parasites are known to infect gammarids, but the specificity of infection and the co-evolution between these hosts and these parasites remain overlooked. The evolutionary history of Gammarus balcanicus Schäferna, 1922 and G. roeselii Gervais, 1835 (Gammaridae) throughout Europe has just recently been solved. We to...

Global climate change is known to affect physiological processes in charge of cellular stress response. That often results in forcing many organisms to shift their biogeographic distribution ranges. It also holds true for euryoecious and highly invasive species like the killer shrimp, Dikerogammarus villosus. In this study we compare the level of r...

Invasive and non-native species can pose risks to vulnerable ecosystems by co-introducing bacterial pathogens. Alternatively, co-introduced bacterial pathogens may regulate invasive population size and invasive traits. We describe a novel candidate genus and species of bacteria (‘Candidatus Aquirickettsiella gammari’) found to infect Gammarus fossa...

Microsporidia are common parasites infecting animals and protists. They are specifically common pathogens of amphipods (Crustacea, Malacostraca), with Dictyocoela spp. being particularly frequent and highly prevalent, exhibiting a range of phenotypic and ecological effects. Until now, seven species of Dictyocoela were defined, predominantly based o...

Temperature is a crucial factor determining biology and ecology of poikilothermic animals. It often constitutes an important barrier for invasive species originating from different climate zones but, on the other hand, may facilitate the invasion process of animals with wide thermal preferences and high resistance to extreme temperatures. In our ex...

Thermal preferences of tested individuals of Dikerogammarus villous and D. haemobaphes with data of microsporidia prevalence We present data with observations on thermal preferences of Dikerogammarus villous (Dv) and Dikerogammarus haemobaphes (Dh) including information about their sex (F, females/M-males), status of infection (N-uninfected, Cd, in...

Crangonyx pseudogracilis is a North American amphipod recently detected in Portugal and it is the first invasive freshwater amphipod detected in the Iberian Peninsula. The aim of this study was to assess the population structure and its invasion range in this area, but also to assess its pathogen profile and its origin through genetic analyses. Cra...

According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, by 2020 invasive alien species (IAS) should be identified and their impacts assessed, so that species can be prioritized for implementation of appropriate control strategies and measures put in place to manage invasion pathways. For one quarter of the IAS listed as the “100 of the world's worst”...

Introduced Marine Pests (IMP, = non-indigenous marine species) prevention, early detection and risk-based management strategies have become the priority for biosecurity operations worldwide, in recognition of the fact that, once established, the effective management of marine pests can rapidly become cost prohibitive or impractical. In Western Aust...

Background: Whilst vastly understudied, pathogens of non-native species (NNS) are increasingly recognised as important threats to native wildlife. This study builds upon recent recommendations for improved screening for pathogens in NNS by focussing on populations of Gammarus roeselii in Chojna, north-western Poland. At this location, and in other...

1. The effects of biological invasions are generally more detrimental in isolated ecosystems than in the interconnected ones and freshwater lakes appear to be particularly fragile. The Ponto-Caspian freshwater amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus (Gammaridae), also known as the killer shrimp, is a highly invasive species that can have significant ecolo...

Divergence time for key nodes in the time-calibrated reconstruction of phylogeny Divergence time (Ma) for key nodes and rates of COI evolution in substitutions per site, per My estimated using Bayesian inference for different calibration schemes. Node affiliation given in Fig. S1. Calibration schemes based on secondary calibration points, standard...

K2p distances between MOTUs Mean Kimura two parameters (K2p) distances (below the diagonal) and standard error (SE) (above the diagonal) between MOTUs for 74 COI haplotypes. N and k = number of individual sampled and haplotypes per MOTU, respectively.

Molecular genetic diversity and historical demography within MOTUs Molecular genetic diversity and historical demography based on mtDNA COI gene region (530 bp) within the 13 MOTUs (A–M). Analysis was done either at the scale of the entire MOTU (in bold) or a site or set of sites (in italic) within a MOTU.

Bayesian chronogram with node definition, calibration points and results of species delimitation methods

Detailed information for all analysed individuals All analysed individuals with BOLD process ID, sample ID, Barcode Index numbers (BIN) and their COI haplotype membership, primers pairs used for amplification.

Fit of the diversification models to the Bayesian reconstruction of phylogeny Fit of the diversification models to Bayesian reconstruction of phylogeny, based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC).

Results of the Bayesian node reconstruction Node ages (Ma) with lower and upper 95% highest posterior densities, geographical coordinates of the ancestral locations expressed as mean and standard deviation (SD), probabilities associated with occurrence in riverine (P(R)) or in lacustrine (P(L)) habitat (see Fig. S1 for node identification).

Genetic differentiation between sites Genetic differentiation based on mtDNA COI gene region (530 bp) between sites (S1 vs S2) within MOTUs (A, C, E, G and K) present in more than one site within the morphospecies Gammarus roeselii in the Balkans.

Background: The Balkans are a major worldwide biodiversity and endemism hotspot. Among the freshwater biota, amphipods are known for their high cryptic diversity. However, little is known about the temporal and paleogeographic aspects of their evolutionary history. We used paleogeography as a framework for understanding the onset of diversificatio...

Background. The Balkans are a major biodiversity and endemism hotspot, worldwide. Among the freshwater biota, amphipods are known for their high cryptic diversity. However, little is known about the temporal and paleogeographic aspects of their evolutionary history. We used paleogeography as a framework for understanding the onset of diversificatio...

Background. The Balkans are a major biodiversity and endemism hotspot, worldwide. Among the freshwater biota, amphipods are known for their high cryptic diversity. However, little is known about the temporal and paleogeographic aspects of their evolutionary history. We used paleogeography as a framework for understanding the onset of diversificatio...

Aggregations of the Ponto-Caspian invasive zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) constitute a suitable habitat for macroinvertebrates, considerably increasing their abundance and providing effective antipredator protection. Thus, the overall effect of a mussel bed on particular predator species may vary from positive to negative, depending on both pr...

Datasets obtained in Experiment 1 and 2 during the study.

Ponto-Caspian gammarids have invaded European waters, affecting local communities by predation and competition. Their ranges and dispersal rates vary across Europe, which may result from their interspecific interactions, accelerating or reducing migrations. We checked this hypothesis by testing interference competition among co-occurring invaders:...

So far, 13 species of Ponto-Caspian amphipods have been reported from the inland waters of Turkey. Two, probably overlooked species, Echinogammarus trichiatus and Dikerogammarus villosus, are here recorded for the first time from this country. Due to the atypical morphology, the identity of E. trichiatus was also verified with molecular methods, ba...

When non-native species appear in a new ecosystem, it may sufficiently affect native communities i.a. through interactions with native as well as other alien species. The „invasional meltdown“ hypothesis states that the presence of non-indigenous species facilitates the introduction and establishment of the other non-native species. A series of lab...

When an invasive predator encounters native and invasive prey, two scenarios are possible: the predator may benefit from the presence of naïve native prey or choose prey from its region of origin, reflecting their common evolutionary history. To determine interactions between an invasive predator and native and invasive prey, we used the Ponto‐Casp...

Amphipods are very successful invaders in European inland waters including lakes. There are several vectors identified as responsible for amphipod species introductions and spread, with overland transport increasingly recognized as particularly important, especially in conjunction with transport between sites of sailing and/or angling activity. In...

The amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus has colonized most of the European main inland water bodies in less than 20 years, having deteriorating effect on the local benthic communities. Our aim was to reveal the species phylogeography in the native Black Sea area, to define the source populations for the colonization routes in continental Europe and fo...

The amphipod Dikerogammarus villosus has colonized most of the European main inland water bodies in less than 20 years, having deteriorating effect on the local benthic communities. Our aim was to reveal the species phylogeography in the native Black Sea area, to define the source populations for the colonization routes in continental Europe and fo...

Dikerogammarus villosus is a freshwater amphipod of the Ponto-Caspian origin recognized as one of the 100 worst alien species in Europe, having negative impact on biodiversity and functioning of the invaded aquatic ecosystems. The species has a wide ecophysiological tolerance and during the last 20 years it has rapidly spread throughout European in...

The 'killer shrimp', Dikerogammarus villosus, has been recognised as one of the 100 worst alien species in Europe, in terms of negative impacts on the biodiversity and functioning of invaded ecosystems. During the last twenty years, this Ponto-Caspian amphipod crustacean has rapidly spread throughout Europe's freshwaters and its invasion and contin...

The invasive amphipod of Ponto-Caspian origin, Dikerogammarus villosus, has been recorded for the first time in the Váh River, which is the biggest Danube tributary in Slovakia. The species was found in the middle course of the river, near the village of Borčice, nearly 200 km up from the Váh mouth. At that site, D. villosus, coexisted with two oth...

Dikerogammarus villosus, an invasive amphipod, has recently been detected in UK freshwaters. To assess the potential for pathogen introduction with the invader, a year-long histopathology survey of the D. villosus population inhabiting the initial site of detection (Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire, UK) was conducted. Additional samples were collected...

SUMMARY Parasites are known to affect the predatory behaviour or diet of their hosts. In relation to biological invasions, parasites may significantly influence the invasiveness of the host population and/or mediate the relationships between the invader and the invaded community. Dikerogammarus villosus, a recently introduced species, has had a maj...

Echinogammarus trichiatus (Martynov, 1932), was recorded for the first time in Poland, in the lower Oder River, in September 2012. The species has most probably reached the Oder through the Havel-Oder Canal, being a part of the German inland canal system in which it has been already present since 2006. We found individuals of both sexes, including...

The alien freshwater amphipod of Ponto-Caspian origin, Dikerogammarus villosus, also known as the killer shrimp, is recognized as being one of the worst invasive alien species in Europe, representing a major conservation problem. Recently, the species has been reported to invade lakes in the Alps in putative association with overland transport lin...

1. Biological invasions are regarded as one of the greatest threats to biological diversity. One of the macroinvertebrate groups with the largest number of invasive species in fresh water are gammarid amphipods. Their omnivorous (including predatory) feeding behaviour may facilitate their spread and establishment in new areas. 2. Dikerogammarus vil...

Gammarus varsoviensis is morphologically close to G. lacustris, with which it is often misidentified. Geographic range of G. varsoviensis includes Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine. Such a distribution pattern led us to the assumption that the species might have originated in the Black Sea drainage area. From there, as early a...

Invasive species may introduce novel pathogens to a colonised area. Most of the time emerging pathogens are detected a posteriori, but recognition of a priori emergence of an invasive disease by host shift may be useful for predictive purposes. Here, we studied if the microsporidian parasite Cucumispora dikerogammari infecting the invasive Ponto-Ca...

The first findings of Gammarus varsoviensis in Ukraine are reported based on samples collected in 2009 and 2011. Until now, the species was known predominantly from the Baltic drainage area, with only one locality in the upper Pripyat River in Belarus (Black Sea basin). Our findings extend the known geographic range of this species ca. 830 kilomete...

Over the past centuries, the potential for aquatic species to expand their ranges in Europe has been enhanced through the construction of navigable canals, and in recent decades through the increase of international trade. Now, a complex network of inland waterways connects some previously isolated catchments of large European rivers in eastern (Vo...

Orchestia cavimana, a semiterrestrial amphipod of presumably Mediterranean origin was found for the first time in a freshwater habitat in Poland in October 2009, in the main Vistula channel at Świbno. Most probably the species reached this locality from the nearby Baltic coast by natural spread up the river. Taking into account its high abundance a...

There are numerous papers upon the range extension, biology and the impact of alien amphipods upon the local fauna. However, there are no studies concerning the alien versus native species distribution patterns at the catchment scale of river systems. In total 125 sites were sampled: 41 in main rivers constituting the Polish section of the central...

Dikerogammarus haemobaphes is a Ponto-Caspian gammarid that has invaded vast areas in Central and Western Europe. Our paper is a first presentation of its life history features in an invaded region. The study was conducted in the Vistula River in Poland from autumn 2003 to autumn 2005 in two sites differing in hydrological conditions with one being...

Predatory behaviour seems to be more frequent in invasive gammaridean species than in native ones. This results in the exclusion of other, mostly native gammaridean species and a change in benthic communities. The present study analysed the influence of environmental factors (water temperature) and morphological factors (sex, body parts involved in...

Dikerogammarus villosus is an invasive amphipod that recently colonized the main rivers of Central and Western Europe. Two frequent microsporidian parasites were previously detected in this species, but their taxonomic status was unclear. Here we present ultrastructural and molecular data indicating that these two parasites are in fact a single mic...

This study has shown that Pontogammarus robustoides has a multivoltine life cycle in central Poland, with three generations per year (spring, summer, and autumn). Reproduction lasts from March/April until October, when the last breeding females are found. The first juveniles appear in May and are present in the population until the end of October....

Currently, seawater flushing is the only management strategy for reducing the number of viable organisms in residual sediments and water of ballast tanks of vessels declaring no ballast on board (NOBOB) that traffic ports of the eastern United States. Previously, we identified several species of freshwater and brackish-water peracarid crustaceans a...

Dikerogammarus villosus (Sowinsky, 1894) has been recorded for the first time in the Vistula River, the biggest river in Poland and in the whole Baltic drainage system. Until now the species has been found in the Bug River that is a tributary of the Vistula. It has migrated there from the Ponto-Caspian basin through the central invasion corridor (n...

Open-ocean ballast-water exchange (BWE) is currently the most common treatment used to reduce the ballast transfer of organisms and the subsequent risk of invasions among coastal ecosystems. Freshwater or estuarine organisms remaining after BWE often experience high mortality, due to osmotic shock caused by high-salinity exposure. We conducted 70 s...

About six life history and two ecological traits of gammarid species occurring in Central European waters were compared in order to identify the characters of successful invader. The species were (1) natives: Gammarus fossarum, G. pulex, G. lacustris, G. varsoviensis, G. balcanicus, G. leopoliensis, G. roeselii, and (2) aliens: Gammarus tigrinus, C...

Dikerogammarus villosus has been recorded for the first time in the alpine lake – Lac du Bourget, French Alps. Low abundance of the alien species in gathered samples suggests that the colonization is just in its initial stage. Two native gammarid species: Gammarus fossarum (Koch, 1835) and G. pulex (Linnaeus, 1758) are still present in the lake. Th...