Meng Xu

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences

Understanding determinants of the invasiveness and ecological impacts of alien species is amongst the most sought-after and urgent research questions in ecology. Several studies have shown the value of comparing the functional responses (FRs) of alien and native predators towards native prey, however, the technique is under-explored with herbivorou...

Adult sex ratio (ASR) has critical effects on behavior and life history and has implications for population demography, including the invasiveness of intro- duced species. ASR exhibits immense variation in nature, yet the scale depen- dence of this variation is rarely analyzed. In this study, using the generalized multilevel models, we investigated...

Aim: The enemy release hypothesis (ERH) posits that exotic species suffer less enemy damage than natives, which promotes their successful invasion. However, the gen- erality of less damage for exotics remains widely debated. A recent view proposes that enemy release (ER) could change systematically with latitude, potentially helping to explain thes...

Since Darwin’s time, degree of ecological similarity between exotic and native species has been assumed to affect the establishment success or failure of exotic species. However, a direct test of the effect of exotic‐native similarity on establishment of exotics is scarce because of the difficulty in recognizing failures of species to establish in...

In the Anthropocene, non-native freshwater fish introductions and translocations have occurred extensively worldwide. However, their global distribution patterns and the factors influencing their establishment remain poorly understood. We analyze a comprehensive database of 14953 freshwater fish species across 3119 river basins and identify global...

Eosinophilic meningitis caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis is an emerging infectious disease in mainland China due to the invasive apple snail species serving as the primary source of infection. However, knowledge regarding the snail’s natural distribution, population structure and phenotypic characteristics is limited. To better understand the...

Background Silver arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) is a basal fish species with sexual monomorphism, while its sex determination mechanism has been poorly understood, posing a significant challenge to its captive breeding efforts. Results We constructed two high-quality chromosome-level genome assemblies for both female and male silver arowana,...

Aquatic ecosystems can harbour more than one non-native fish species and this can represent a threat due to trophic interactions with native fishes. However, research on interactions amongst multiple co-occurring native and non-native fish remains scarce. In this study, 551 organisms from 44 native fish, 11 non-native fish, 35 macroinvertebrates (o...

Gut microbiota is related to host fitness, and influenced by geographical locations and habitats. Pomacea canaliculata is a malignant invasive alien snail that threatens agricultural production and ecosystem functions worldwide. Clarifying the general rules of the gut microbial community structure and function of the snails in different geographica...

Fish, being a crucial component of aquatic ecosystems, holds significant importance from both economic and ecological perspectives. However, the identification of fish at the species level remains challenging, and there is a lack of a taxonomically complete and comprehensive reference sequence database for fish. Therefore, we developed CoSFISH, an...

Eosinophilic meningitis caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis is an emerging infectious disease in mainland China. The invasive snail (Pomacea canaliculata) is one of the main intermediate host of the zoonotic nematode. To gain insights into the spatial distribution, phenotypic variation and dispersal pattern of the snail populations. A field surve...

Understanding the mechanisms underlying the invasion success or failure of alien species can help to predict future invasions and cope with the invaders. The biotic resistance hypothesis posits that diverse communities are more resistant to invasion. While many studies have examined this hypothesis, the majority of them have focused on the relation...

Silver arowana, Osteoglossum bicirrhosum, is sexually monomorphic, and its sex determination mechanism is poorly understood, which has been a major hurdle in its captive breeding. To this end, we assembled two high-quality chromosome-level genomes for each sex of silver arowana, with chromosome N50 of 10.6 Mb and 10.4 Mb in female and male, respect...

Understanding the evolutionary history of the highly diverse ray-finned fishes has been challenging, and the development of more universal primers for phylogenetic analyses may help overcoming these challenges. We developed FishPIE, a nested PCR primer set of 82 phylogenetically informative exon markers and tested it on 203 species from 31 orders o...

Human-induced fish introduction in aquaculture always be considered the most important driver of biological invasions in freshwater ecosystems, yet most introduced species fail to establish though having great economic benefits. Explaining the varying success of introduced fish species is a central question both in invasion biology and aquaculture...

Non-native fish invasions are among the greatest threats to the sustainability of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Tilapia and catfish are regularly cultured in South China which is similar to their climate in native areas and may also support their invasive potential. We systematically collected fish from eight main rivers of South China, from 201...

Alien fishes are regarded as one of the major causes of the decline of aquatic fauna and biodiversity. Up to now, more than 500 fish species have been introduced into China from other countries. However, nationwide documentation of the established alien fishes is still lacking, and their ecological risk is unclear. We compiled a comprehensive inven...

In the last few decades, non-native freshwater fishes have been introduced all over the world for economic purposes, including aquaculture and aquarium trade, as well as improvement for wild stocks resulting in adverse environmental and socio-economic effects. The Guangdong province of China is at a high risk of fish invasions owing to its warm and...

Invasive species are a major and growing threat to China’s native freshwater biodiversity. They have caused species extinctions, biodiversity loss, and environmental changes. Mrigal carp (Cirrhinus mrigala), one of the most widespread and invasive of freshwater fish species, now occurs in major rivers throughout southern China. We report the curren...

Evolutionary experience and the phylogenetic relationships of plants have both been proposed to influence herbivore–plant interactions and plant invasion success. However, the direction and magnitude of these effects, and how such patterns are altered with increasing temperature, are rarely studied. Through laboratory functional response experiment...

Tilapia is one of the groups of fish species most widely cultured globally. China has been the largest producer of tilapia in the world since 1990s. Guangdong Province produces almost 40% of all tilapia in China because of its suitable geography and weather conditions, and tilapia culture has brought considerable economic benefits. Unfortunately, m...

Competitive interactions not only exist between invasive and native fish species but also between different invasive species, especially between those that have broad niche overlap. Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Redbelly tilapia (Tilapia zillii) are the most common invasive tilapia species in the rivers of South China. There may be speci...

Invasive alien species (IAS) cause myriad negative impacts, such as ecosystem disruption, human, animal and plant health issues, economic damage and species extinctions. There are many sources of emerging and future IAS, such as the poorly regulated international pet trade. However, we lack methodologies to predict the likely ecological impacts and...

Invasive alien species (IAS) cause myriad negative impacts, such as ecosystem disruption, human, animal and plant health issues, economic damage and species extinctions. There are many sources of emerging and future IAS, such as the poorly regulated international pet trade. However, we lack methodologies to predict the likely ecological impacts and...

Nutrient enrichment caused by anthropogenic activities can positively affect biological invasions as novel species can utilize additional resources in the ecosystem for population persistence. Although the effect of resource availability on plant invasions has been well-documented, the impact of nutrient enrichment on fish invasions remains unexplo...

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) can cause a series of economic problems in aquaculture ponds due to its competition with other species and negative impacts on their growth and breeding. To test the killing effect of “Miefeiling” on O. and to provide scientffic guide for its application, we conducted an experiment by applying 0.16 mg • L⁻¹ “Mie...

Although a large number of fish species have been introduced into Guangdong Province in Southern China, a few species, such as tilapia (Tilapia spp.), North African catfish Clarias gariepinus Burchell, mrigal carp, Cirrhinus mrigala (Bloch) and the sucker mouth catfish (Hypostomus sp.), have established natural populations and can be considered “su...

Predictions of the identities and ecological impacts of invasive alien species are critical for risk assessment, but presently we lack universal and standardized metrics that reliably predict the likelihood and degree of impact of such invaders (i.e. measurable changes in populations of affected species). This need is especially pressing for emergi...

1. Predictions of the identities and ecological impacts of invasive alien species are critical for risk assessment, but presently we lack universal and standardized metrics that reliably predict the likelihood and degree of impact of such invaders (i.e. measurable changes in populations of affected species). This need is especially pressing for eme...

We contend that invasion ecology requires a universal, measurable trait of species and their interactions with resources that predicts key elements of invasibility and ecological impact; here, we advocate that functional responses can help achieve this across taxonomic and trophic groups, among habitats and contexts, and can hence help unify dispar...

Vonesh et al. (2017) in their critique of Dick et al. (2017) erect a straw man with their thought experiment; they look for reasons why comparative functional response (CFR) might fail, when CFR clearly and repeatedly succeeds.

Fast expansion of aquaculture in China largely relies on the introduction and use of non-native species. However, the introduction and use of non-native species may have negative impacts on local ecosystems and societies. Clarias gariepinus has been widely farmed in China after introduced in 1980 from Africa. However, during aquaculture, this fish...

Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) is one of the most widely cultured and most widespread invasive fish species globally. It was the most common alien fish species in South China where it has successfully established populations in the major rivers, and became the dominant species in many sites. The distribution of Nile tilapia in the wild in...

In China, the introduction of South American sailfin catfishes of the genus Pterygoplichthys are a concern due to the potential risks they pose to native environments. The present study reports on the distribution, establishment and maturity of a Pterygoplichthys spp. hybrid swarm in Guangdong Province, China. Distribution data demonstrate that Pte...

Background: Mitochondrial (mt) genome sequences are widely used for species identification and to study the phylogenetic relationships among Gastropoda. However, to date, limited data are available as taxon sampling is narrow. In this study we sequenced the complete mt genomes of the freshwater gastropods Radix swinhoei (Lymnaeidae) and Planorbari...

We collected the egg spots of golden apple snails (Pomacea cancliculata) across 11 latitudes (18°N to 28°N) during June to October 2015, which covered the major colonized areas from north to south boundaries in China. We measured the length, width, height, weight, volume of egg spots, and the diameter and number of eggs across latitudes, and analyz...

Quantifying the per capita effects of invasive alien species is crucial for assessing their ecological impact. A major challenge to risk assessment of invasive species was to understand the factors that cause per capita effects to vary in different ecological contexts, particularly in a warming world. By conducting functional response experiments,...

Using water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and southern naiad (Najas guadelupensis) as apple snails’ (Pomacea canaliculata) food, we determined the temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen and the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and soluble phosphate of aquaculture liquid at 1, 3...

To determine the age structure and growth characteristics of Clarias gariepinus, sagitta ray sections, body length and weight were examined using 223 specimens collected in South China during August 2011 and June 2015. These specimens were comprised of 3 age groups ranging from age 1 to age 3. Additionally, the dominated age was age 1, accounting f...

Tilapias are now the most common alien fish in the rivers of South China and the dominant species in many sites. However, wild tilapia species have not been well-characterized or studied systematically. In this study, mitochondrial DNA control regions (mtDNA CR) and morphological characteristics were used to identify invasive tilapia species. Using...

The high-risk invasive apple snail Pomacea canaliculata has greatly threatened the agriculture, ecosystem integrity and public health. In order to provide scientific evidence for effective prevention and control of P. canaliculata, a most suitable ecological niche model was selected to predict the potential suitable distribution areas of P. canalic...

A comparative study on measurable characters, age structure, sex ratio and density dependence of Pomacea canaliculata populations from 4 habitats in 11 areas of Guangdong Province were conducted. The results showed that measurable characters of P. canaliculata significantly differed among habitats (P <0.05). The relationship between body mass and s...

Figure S1. Adult sex ratio estimated from the generalized multilevel model at four spatial scales. Figure S2. The relationship between extreme low temperature and adult sex ratio at the city level.

Parameter estimates from polynomial regression analyses of proportion of plant biomass consumed against initial plant biomass for the three snail species toward the four plant species. (DOC)

Relationships between initial plant biomass and proportion of plant consumed. (DOC)

A total of 255 fish specimens of invasive species Clarias gariepinus were collected from the main rivers of south China, to analyze its reproductive characteristics. The results showed that females spawned from May to August, and the spawning peak occurred in June and July. The dis- tribution of egg-diameter presented a multi?peak pattern. Fat coef...

Pomacea canaliculata is an important invasive species worldwide. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms behind species displacement, adaptational abilities, and pesticide resistance, partly because of the lack of genomic information that is available for this species. Here, the transcriptome sequences for the invasive golden apple...

Conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) is often involved in explaining the maintenance of species diversity in forest communities given that it may suppress the common species. Recent studies, in contrast, suggested that CNDD had a stronger effect on rare species than on common species and thus shaped the current tree abundance pattern. How...

Snails are a kind of important aquatic products and dehydration is the main technique in production of snail meal. Apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) dehydration meets both the demand for a fishmeal substitute in aquaculture and invasive species control in agriculture. In this study, we investigated the percentage of the nutritive material, examine...

Globally, biological invasion is a threat to economy, biodiversity, and human health. Most of the alien species were mediated by human activity, which is true for aquatic invasion species as well. China has become the world's second largest economic entity and the world's first aquaculture and fisheries trade powers. A total of 544 alien invasive s...

•Species prevalence of Pomacea spp. from 19 regions in South China was identified.•Low genetic variation was not related to geographic distribution patterns of Pomacea canaliculata.•Two haplotypes as the ancestral continental haplotypes of P. canaliculata were found.•Phylogenetic analysis indicated the success invasion of P. canaliculata through se...

The Janzen-Connell hypothesis suggests that density- and/or distance-dependent juvenile mortality driven by host-specific natural enemies can explain high species diversity in tropical forests. However, such density and distance effects may not occur simultaneously and may not be driven by the same mechanism. Also, reports of attempts to identify a...

Density-dependent mortality has been recognized as an important mechanism that underpins tree species diversity, especially in tropical forests. However, few studies have attempted to explore how density dependence varies with spatial scale and even fewer have attempted to identify why there is scale-dependent differentiation. In this study, we exp...

Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is one of the most widely cultured species globally and has successfully colonized much of the world. Despite numerous studies of this exotic species, how differences in native communities mitigate the consequences of Nile tilapia invasion is unknown. Theory predicts that communities that are more diverse should...

Heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) is one of the most important heat-shock proteins that helps organisms to modulate stress response via over-expression. The HSP70 gene from Pomacea canaliculata was cloned using the RACE approach; the gene is 2,767 bp in length and contains an open reading frame of 1,932 bp, which is encoded by a polypeptide of 643 amin...

The genetic structure of the family Osteoglossidae from different geographical regions was examined using the nuclear 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rDNA) sequence. The results showed that the partial length of 18S rDNA was 1277 bp, and they were relatively conserved in the species of the family Osteoglossidae. A total of 62(4.83%) polymorphic sites were o...

The present study examined the genetic variation of the family Osteoglossidae from different geographical locations based on the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) and ATPase subunit 6 (ATPase6) genes; we then re-constructed the phylogenetic relationships using the two sequences in combination. The results showed that the partial sequ...

Background/Question/Methods It is believed that soil pathogens play an important role on maintenance of plant community diversity and species abundance. However, most studies inferred community-level species coexistence from a single or a few species and direct evidence that soil pathogens influence species diversity were lacking. On the other ha...