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High incidence of exotic ostracods in the rice fields of a protected Mediterranean wetland
... Microcrustaceans have been less studied than larger crustaceans, such as decapods, and their roles as invasive species remain uncertain. However, in recent decades, and more intensely in the past few years, various studies have emphasized the wide distribution and high frequency of invasive cladocerans and copepods (Alekseev, 2021;Alekseev et al., 2021;Geraldes and Alonso, 2014;Havel and Medley, 2006), and particularly of invasive ostracods in PAs and rice fields (Bisquert-Ribes et al., 2023a, 2023bCastillo-Escrivà et al., 2023;Escrivà et al., 2012;McKenzie and Moroni, 1986;Rossi et al., 2003;Smith et al., 2017;Valls et al., 2014b). ...
... This study intends to evaluate and highlight the biodiversity of a metacommunity of microcrustaceans (Cladocera, Copepoda, and Ostracoda) in rice fields and other wetland habitats, including marshes and limnocrene springs, located in two PAs in the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula. Environmentally, rice fields are relatively uniform habitats, shallow ponds with or without vegetation, which can harbor high levels of gamma diversity (Bisquert-Ribes et al., 2023a;Valls et al., 2014b), even though several biocides are used during rice cultivation (Calvo et al., 2021). On the other hand, other wetland habitats in the region (mainly, shallow ponds and marshes) have more diverse environmental characteristics than rice fields. ...
... Similarly, rice fields may host species with high tolerance to hypoxia or high temperatures, which occur during the flooding at the hottest season. These conditions are similar to those of shallow ponds in tropical regions (Olmo et al., 2022), from where some of the invasive ostracods may originate, which may imply that they would be found more easily in summer in the invaded areas (Bisquert-Ribes et al., 2023a;McKenzie and Moroni, 1986). ...
Samples obtained from pet shops and a hobbyist’s aquaria in Japan have revealed a diverse non-marine ostracod fauna, consisting of 19 species, all contaminants of aquaria stocked with exotic fish, shrimps and/or aquatic plants. Of these, six are newly recorded for Japan, including two new species, belonging to the genera Pseudostrandesia and Tanycypris. Pseudostrandesia tenebrarum Smith & Ozawa, 2021, previously suspected to be an alien species in Japan, was again found in pet shops in this study. We also report living specimens of Potamocypris acuminata Fuhrmann & Goth, 2011, a species previously only known from Pleistocene deposits of Germany. The six new records for Japan reported herein are likely alien species as evidenced by previous records or congeneric species, with origins in East Asia, South East Asia, and the Americas. Thus, there are now seven ostracod species recognized as probable alien hitchhikers in the Japanese pet trade. This study highlights that the pet trade is a viable route for hitchhiking ostracod species to enter Japan, and such species have the potential to become invasive.
The two widespread ostracod genera Cypria Zenker, 1854 and Physocypria Vávra, 1897 are traditionally
distinguished based on the presence or absence of tubercles on the right valve margin. However, recent
research based on soft body parts has uncovered new cryptic genera within Cypria and Physocypria.
Following this line of research, a new Cyclocyprididae genus and species, Vizcainocypria viator gen. nov.
sp. nov., is here described from individuals collected in rice fields and wetlands of the Iberian Peninsula.
Vizcainocypria is compared with Cypria, Physocypria, Dentocypria Savatenalinton, 2017, Keysercypria
Karanovic, 2011, Brasilocypria Almeida et al., 2023, and Claudecypria Almeida et al., 2023 based on
morphological evidence. Besides the presence or absence of tubercles on the right valve, these genera
can be distinguished according to their mandibular palp, second thoracopod, caudal ramus, and male
hemipenis. Molecular analyses using mitochondrial (COX1), and nuclear (28S rDNA) genes provide
further support for the differentiation of Cypria, Dentocypria, Physocypria and Vizcainocypria gen. nov. The
present study highlights the importance of using an integrative taxonomy approach, combining shell and
soft-body parts morphology and molecular data, to characterize the rich diversity of freshwater ostracods.
Ostracods are common microcrustaceans in inland waters, widely used as (palaeo-) environmental indicators. Information on their species distribution worldwide is extremely fragmentary, and usually biased towards some regions, hampering attaining a general view of their biogeography. The Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and Macaronesia are considered biodiversity hotspots as part of the Mediterranean Region, whose non-marine ostracod fauna was reviewed in the 1990s accounting for 88 species. Most of these data were included in the NODE database (Non-marine Ostracod Distribution in Europe). Here, we present IMOST (Ibero-Balearic and Macaronesian OSTracod database), a non-marine ostracod database for the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic and Macaronesian Islands, incorporating data included in NODE plus many new records from recently published studies and new unpublished observations. Our database stores data in separated and standardised spreadsheets, one for each data source. Moreover, the database also offers updated, reviewed and accurate coordinates of the cited occurrence and taxonomic identification. According to the data compiled in IMOST, we updated the list of non-marine ostracods in the studied region from 88 to 118 species. Nevertheless, we expect that the actual number of species for the included regions should be higher, considering other Mediterranean countries with smaller areas but more extensive surveys (e.g. 152 species in Italy). The updated database is instrumental for our understanding of the biodiversity and biogeographic patterns of these organisms in this hotspot, as well as for analysing their species-environment relationships in a context of global changes.
1. We review progress in our understanding of the importance of waterbirds as dispersal vectors of other organisms, and identify priorities for further research.
2. Waterbirds are excellent for long-distance dispersal (LDD), whereas other vectors such as fish and mammals disperse similar propagules, but over shorter distances. Empirical studies of internal and external transport by waterbirds have shown that the former mechanism generally is more important. Internal transport is widely recognised for aquatic plants and aquatic invertebrates with resting eggs, but also is important for other organisms (e.g., terrestrial flowering plants not dispersed by frugivores, bryophytes, tardigrades, fish eggs).
3. Waterbird vectors also are important in terrestrial habitats, and provide con-nectivity across terrestrial-aquatic boundaries. There are important differences in the roles of different waterbird species, especially those using different habitats along the aquatic-terrestrial gradient. Early attempts to predict zoochory based on propagule morphology have been found wanting, and more research is needed into how the traits of vectors and vectored organisms (including life history , dormancy and growth traits) explain dispersal interactions. Experimental studies have focused on the potential of propagules to survive internal or external transport, and research into factors determining the establishment success of propagules after dispersal is lacking.
4. Recent spatially explicit models of seed dispersal by waterbirds should be expanded to include invertebrate dispersal, and to compare multiple bird species in the same landscape. Network approaches have been applied to plant-waterbird dispersal interactions, and these are needed for invertebrates. Genetic studies support effective LDD of plants and invertebrates along waterbird flyways, but there remains a lack of examples at a local scale. Next Generation Sequencing and genomics should be applied to waterbird-mediated dispersal across the landscape. More studies of biogeography, community ecology, or population genetics should integrate waterbird movements at the design stage.
Sampling of rice fields in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, yielded an undescribed species of the non-marine ostracod genus Sarscypridopsis McKenzie, 1977. Small marginal denticles on the left valve give this species its name: Sarscypridopsis denticulata n. sp. Most species of the genus Sarscypridopsis are restricted to Africa, and based on morphological characters, the closest congener of this new species is native to Botswana. We therefore conclude that this species is probably not native to Japan, and it joins six other non-marine ostracod species that are probably or possibly alien or invasive in Japan. Including the new species, four of these are associated with rice fields. All specimens of Sarscypridopsis denticulata n. sp. are female, and one of the antennal claws (claw G2) is more robust and with better developed serration compared with the other antennal claws. This is a feature of several Cypridopsinae lineages, but in females only. An overview of the zoogeographical distribution of the genus is provided.
We evaluated the worldwide trends in studies of the active and dormant forms of microcrustaceans in rice fi elds, and the potential of this environment as a stock of diversity through a scientometric analysis. Web of Science and Scopus databases were used to compile the 77 studies published before 2019. Publications were distributed over 35 years, with a positive correlation between the number of studies and the year of publication (rho = 0.34). The identifi ed studies were from 18 countries, and 58.4% were conducted in Japan, Italy, the United States, and Spain. Most studies addressed more than two groups of microcrustaceans (37.6%), followed by those focused on Cladocera (27.2%) and Ostracoda (18.1%). We quantifi ed 301 species from six groups of microcrustaceans, the majority of which were Cladocera (41.5%) and Ostracoda (39.8%). The greatest richness of microcrustaceans identifi ed in studies were found in Italy, and Brazil. Of the studies, 87% were centered on the active forms of microcrustaceans rather than dormant forms. We found that 15.5% of the countries that grow rice have identifi ed the richness of microcrustaceans, and even though they are artifi cial environments, rice fi elds have high potential to store a high diversity of microcrustaceans.
This article presents a new implementation of hierarchical clustering for the R language that allows one to apply spatial or temporal contiguity constraints during the clustering process. The need for contiguity constraint arises, for instance, when one wants to partition a map into different domains of similar physical conditions, identify discontinuities in time series, group regional administrative units with respect to their performance, and so on. To increase computation efficiency, we programmed the core functions in plain C. The result is a new R function, constr.hclust, which is distributed in package adespatial. The program implements the general agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm described by Lance and Williams (1966; 1967), with the particularity of allowing only clusters that are contiguous in geographic space or along time to fuse at any given step. Contiguity can be defined with respect to space or time. Information about spatial contiguity is provided by a connection network among sites, with edges describing the links between connected sites. Clustering with a temporal contiguity constraint is also known as chronological clustering. Information on temporal contiguity can be implicitly provided as the rank positions of observations in the time series. The implementation was mirrored on that found in the hierarchical clustering function hclust of the standard R package stats (R Core Team 2022). We transcribed that function from Fortran to C and added the functionality to apply constraints when running the function. The implementation is efficient. It is limited mainly by input/output access as massive amounts of memory are potentially needed to store copies of the dissimilarity matrix and update its elements when analyzing large problems. We provided R computer code for plotting results for numbers of clusters.
Outbreaks of zoonotic diseases are accelerating at an unprecedented rate in the current era of globalization, with substantial impacts on the global economy, public health, and sustainability. Alien species invasions have been hypothesized to be important to zoonotic diseases by introducing both existing and novel pathogens to invaded ranges. However, few studies have evaluated the generality of alien species facilitating zoonoses across multiple host and parasite taxa worldwide. Here, we simultaneously quantify the role of 795 established alien hosts on the 10,473 zoonosis events across the globe since the 14 th century. We observe an average of~5.9 zoonoses per alien zoonotic host. After accounting for species-, disease-, and geographic-level sampling biases, spatial autocorrelation, and the lack of independence of zoonosis events, we find that the number of zoonosis events increase with the richness of alien zoonotic hosts, both across space and through time. We also detect positive associations between the number of zoonosis events per unit space and climate change, land-use change, biodiversity loss, human population density, and PubMed citations. These findings suggest that alien host introductions have likely contributed to zoonosis emergences throughout recent history and that minimizing future zoonotic host species introductions could have global health benefits.
Aim
Understanding the patterns and correlates of the range expansion of established alien species is crucial for predicting invasion impacts and developing effective control strategies. With accelerating globalization, it is key to identify the interactions of different global change processes, such as how land‐use change may influence range expansion, yet empirical studies remain limited.
Location
Liuji Town, Jiangsu Province, China.
Methods
We first divided the study area into 128 grids with a resolution of 1 × 1 km and conducted visual encounter surveys over two years for a total of 492 water bodies to explore the establishment and range expansions of a global notorious invader, the American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus (Shaw, 1802) (= Rana catesbeiana (Shaw, 1802)) using generalized linear mixed models. Then, we investigated the residence time of the established bullfrogs in each water body based on a questionnaire survey. We quantified the habitat loss and range expansion of the past 30 years via GIS‐based spatial analysis and explored their temporal dynamics using the breakpoint regression technique.
Results
We found that the area of suitable habitats was the most important variable positively related to the bullfrog establishment. There was a similar temporal trend of the range expansion and habitat loss, although the optimal time of habitat loss was slightly earlier than that of the great increase in bullfrog range expansion. Overall, the bullfrogs tended to expand faster with greater habitat loss after controlling for temporal non‐independence.
Main conclusions
Our results demonstrated that loss of suitable habitats may facilitate invaders with faster range expansion to occupy the remaining limited resources. Alien species might thus accelerate invasions under human‐induced land‐use modifications in the era of global change. The time lag between range expansion and habitat loss is the golden window for preventing the spread of established alien species in disturbed habitats.
Biological invasions are responsible for substantial biodiversity declines as well as high economic losses to society and monetary expenditures associated with the management of these invasions1,2. The InvaCost database has enabled the generation of a reliable, comprehensive, standardized and easily updatable synthesis of the monetary costs of biological invasions worldwide3. Here we found that the total reported costs of invasions reached a minimum of US26.8 billion. Moreover, we estimate that the annual mean cost could reach US$162.7 billion in 2017. These costs remain strongly underestimated and do not show any sign of slowing down, exhibiting a consistent threefold increase per decade. We show that the documented costs are widely distributed and have strong gaps at regional and taxonomic scales, with damage costs being an order of magnitude higher than management expenditures. Research approaches that document the costs of biological invasions need to be further improved. Nonetheless, our findings call for the implementation of consistent management actions and international policy agreements that aim to reduce the burden of invasive alien species. Analysis of the InvaCost database shows that the costs of biological invasions have markedly increased between 1970 and 2017 and show no sign of slowing down, highlighting the importance of evidence-based and cost-effective management actions.
The Albufera of Valencia is a coastal lagoon located in the western area of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 23.1 km² and an average depth of only 1 m, with a maximum depth of 1.6 m. This lagoon is the remnants of an original and more extensive wetland of about 220 km² which is now mostly dedicated to rice cultivation. Surface water is supplied through several main and many secondary canals for a total of 64 water entry points and three exit points to the sea. It is difficult to evaluate the residence time due to the lack of reliable measurements of the inflow or outflow, as well as continuous measurements. Between 1988 and 2018, several procedures were used, the results of which are outlined in this document. Overall, a decrease in the inflow during these thirty years was observed and, therefore, it can be concluded that the residence time is increasing. There is a temporal variation during the year due to rainfall and cultivation periods. Likewise, the results found that the natural hydrological zoning of the lagoon causes a spatial heterogeneity with small Northern areas with low residence time of 4.7 days, almost on a weekly basis and large Western extensions with high residence time of 222.9 days. It is impossible to know this information if individual flow measurements are not taken from each of the main watercourses.
RESUMEN Evolución de la conductividad en la Albufera de Valencia entre 1985 y 2018 La laguna costera de la Albufera de Valencia es una masa de agua oligohalina rodeada de un antiguo marjal, transformado en cultivo del arroz desde hace más de 200 años. La presión de las aportaciones superficiales mantiene la conductividad en valores estables en torno a la media anual, modificada puntualmente al alza sólo en los periodos de sequía. La concentración de cloruros es la variable más relacionada con la conductividad. En el estudio de la serie temporal se observa que en el último decenio hay una tendencia significativa al aumento de los valores mínimos de la conductividad, lo cual indicaría una disminución de la cantidad de agua dulce que llega a la laguna. La medida de esa variable sería un buen indicador de las alteraciones que se pueden producir en un escenario previsible de cambio climático con descenso de las precipitaciones y de las aportaciones de agua dulce. Palabras clave: laguna costera, salinidad, conductividad, serie larga ABSTRACT Changes of the conductivity in the Albufera of Valencia lagoon between 1985 and 2018 The Albufera of Valencia (Eastern Spain) is an oligohaline coastal lagoon, surrounded by an ancient marsh transformed into rice fields about 200 years ago. The surficial water inflows maintain the conductivity in steady values around the annual average, with occasional increases in periods of droughts. The concentration of chloride is the variable most related to conductivity. In this study of its long-term conductivity changes, we have observed that there has been a significant trend toward an increase of minimum values in the last decade, which could indicate a decrease in freshwater inputs to the lagoon. The measurement of this variable would be a good indicator of the alterations that may occur in a foreseeable scenario of climate change with a decrease in both rainfall and freshwater inflows.
Procambarus clarkii is a worldwide freshwater invasive crustacean from North America and was first introduced into Europe the 1970s. Along with P. clarkii, another invasive alien species was also spreading: Aphanomyces astaci. This pathogen is listed among the 100 World’s worst invasive species and involved in the European native crayfish decline. Although both species live in freshwater ecosystems, P. clarkii can withstand brackish waters and inhabit estuarine habitats. However, the presence of A. astaci associated to North American crayfishes has never been described in brackish waters. In this study, we have investigated the presence of A. astaci in a P. clarkii population of a Mediterranean coastal lagoon in the Albufera Natural Park, Valencia, Spain introduced in 1976. Our study confirmed the presence of this pathogen, and suggests that A. astaci has been spreading for more than four decades in the mentioned estuarine environment. Mitochondrial ribosomal rnnS and rnnL indicated that the isolated pathogen belongs to d1-haplotype (i.e., D-haplogroup) typically hosted by P. clarkii. The presence of this pathogen in a brackish environment may suggest a better adaptation than other A. astaci strains to adverse conditions, such as high salinity levels. This is a matter of concern for the conservation of European native freshwater crayfish and highlights once more the risk of introducing invasive alien crustaceans.
Protected areas are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. However, alien species invasion is an increasing threat to biodiversity, and the extent to which protected areas worldwide are resistant to incursions of alien species remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate establishment by 894 terrestrial alien animals from 11 taxonomic groups including vertebrates and invertebrates across 199,957 protected areas at the global scale. We find that <10% of protected areas are home to any of the alien animals, but there is at least one established population within 10-100 km of the boundaries of 89%-99% of protected areas, while >95% of protected areas are environmentally suitable for establishment. Higher alien richness is observed in IUCN category-II national parks supposedly with stricter protection, and in larger protected areas with higher human footprint and more recent designation. Our results demonstrate that protected areas provide important protection from biological invasions, but invasions may become an increasingly dominant problem in the near future.
Applying an invasive framework to native species that are shifting their ranges in response to climate change adopts an adversarial, local and static paradigm that is often at odds with protecting global biodiversity.
The Albufera de València coastal lagoon is one of the largest oligohaline lagoons in the Iberian Peninsula. Highly polluted and threatened by plans for urban development, it has been protected as a Natural Park since 1986 to preserve its environment and surroundings, mostly consisting of ricefields and a forested coastal sand bar. Restoration plans focus on recovering the water quality and submerged macrophyte cover that occupied most of the lagoon in the 1950’s. Until recent studies, little was known about the wetland’s palaeoenvironmental history. To improve this knowledge, we analysed the Holocene evolution of the lagoon based on sedimentology, geochemistry and microfossils (foraminifera, diatoms, ostracods and pollen remains) from four cores. Two were collected in the sand bar, and two from the central lagoon. In combination with previous work, our new data show that the lagoon remained brackish for most of its history since 8700 cal BP, with the frequent presence of accompanying freshwater taxa from 7000 to 3400 cal BP. Notwithstanding chronological uncertainties, some episodes of decline in the abundance of microfossils seem to match aridity events Bond 5 (8.2 ky BP) and Minorca 7 (7.5-7.2 ky BP), the latter marking the switch from a dominance of arboreal vegetation to grasses. The most important change in the water body consisted of a sharp change at the beginning of the 19th century from a brackish to an oligohaline lagoon, driven by anthropogenic hydrological control associated with the expansion of ricefields. Later on, by the 1960-1970’s, the growing population impacts of agricultural, wastewater and industrial effluents launched a major eutrophication process that would eventually sharply reduce the benthic vegetation and invertebrate communities and promote the phytoplankton dominance of the ecosystem in a turbid state. Although our multiproxy study has increased understanding of the lagoon’s history, somewhat supported by documentary evidence, further palaeoecological research in different parts of the wetland would help define the causes of heterogeneous timing of changes in this large, shallow, complex system. Notwithstanding the need for further research, there is a clear priority for managers and the society to work on restoration efforts to drive the Albufera wetland towards one of the previous, less impacted, states of this worn-out and neglected ecosystem.
Native plants and animals can rapidly become superabundant and dominate ecosystems, leading to claims that native species are no less likely than alien species to cause environmental damage, including biodiversity loss. We compared how frequently alien and native species have been implicated as drivers of recent extinctions in a comprehensive global database, the 2017 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Alien species were considered to be a contributing cause of 25% of plant extinctions and 33% of animal extinctions, whereas native species were implicated in less than 5% and 3% of plant and animal extinctions, respectively. When listed as a putative driver of recent extinctions, native species were more often associated with other extinction drivers than were alien species. Our results offer additional evidence that the biogeographic origin, and hence evolutionary history, of a species are determining factors of its potential to cause disruptive environmental impacts.
The Albufera de Valencia is a complex anthropogenic waterscape, constructed by different social groups over centuries. Today water management in the protected wetland remains opaque, much like the water in the eutrophic lagoon. Four major organizations manage this natural heritage, which remains torn between nature conservation and rice growing, in a jigsaw of overlapping jurisdictions and crisscrossed visions. Water management in this socioecological-system is complex and contested, and takes place within a changing scenario due to recent variations in the water quality and quantity budgets. This paper analyses this changing socio-ecological system based on interviews with stakeholders, and advocates for a new model of management based on shared governance, mediation and transparent data. RESUMEN La laguna opaca. Gestión y gobernanza del agua en l'Albufera de València (España) La Albufera de València es un humedal sometido, desde hace varios siglos, a una acusada influencia antrópica. Hoy día se halla en un estadio eutrófico, y la falta de transparencia de sus aguas es comparable a la opacidad en determinados ámbitos de su gestión, en la que chocan los intereses contrapuestos del conservacionismo y el productivismo, en un entramado de jurisdicciones solapadas y visiones contrastadas. La gestión del agua en este sistema socio-ecológico es compleja y conflictiva, y tiene lugar en un escenario cambiante debido a las variaciones en el balance de recursos hídricos y la calidad de las aguas. Este artículo analiza este sistema socio-ecológico a partir de entrevistas con diversos usuarios y agentes, y propone un nuevo modelo de gestión basado en una gobernanza compartida, la mediación y la transparencia informativa. Palabras clave: gestión del agua, gobernanza, espacios protegidos, sostenibilidad, Albufera de València, caudal ecológico Limnetica, 38(1): 503-515 (2019).
We present an updated, subjective list of the extant, non-marine ostracod genera and species of the world, with their distributions in the major zoogeographical regions, as well as a list of the genera in their present hierarchical taxonomic positions. The list includes all taxa described and taxonomic alterations made up to 1 July 2018. Taxonomic changes include 17 new combinations, 5 new names, 1 emended specific name and 11 new synonymies (1 tribe, 4 genera, 6 species). Taking into account the recognized synonymies, there are presently 2330 subjective species of non-marine ostracods in 270 genera. The most diverse family in non-marine habitats is the Cyprididae, comprising 43.2% of all species, followed by the Candonidae (29.0%), Entocytheridae (9.1%) and the Limnocytheridae (7.0%). An additional 13 families comprise the remaining 11.8% of described species. The Palaearctic zoogeographical region has the greatest number of described species (799), followed by the Afrotropical region with 453 species and the Nearctic region with 439 species. The Australasian and Neotropical regions each have 328 and 333 recorded species, respectively, while the Oriental region has 271. The vast majority of non-marine ostracods (89.8%) are endemic to one zoogeographical region, while only six species are found in six or more regions. We also present an additional list with ‘uncertain species’, which have neither been redescribed nor re-assessed since 1912, and which are excluded from the main list; a list of taxonomic changes presented in the present paper; a table with the number of species and % per family; and a table with numbers of new species described in the 20-year period between 1998 and 2017 per zoogeographical region. Two figures visualize the total number of species and endemic species per zoogeographical region, and the numbers of new species descriptions per decade for all families and the three largest families since 1770, respectively.
The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is an invasive pentatomid introduced from Asia into the United States, Canada, multiple European countries, and Chile. In 2010, BMSB populations in the mid-Atlantic United States reached outbreak levels and subsequent feeding severely damaged tree fruit as well as other crops. Significant nuisance issues from adults overwintering inside homes were common. BMSB is a highly polyphagous species with a strong dispersal capacity and high reproductive output, potentially enabling its spread and success in invaded regions. A greater understanding of BMSB biology and ecology and its natural enemies, the identification of the male-produced aggregation pheromone, and the recognition that BMSB disperses into crops from adjacent wooded habitats have led to the development of behavior-based integrated pest management (IPM) tactics. Much is still unknown about BMSB, and continued long-term collaborative studies are necessary to refine crop-specific IPM programs and enhance biological control across invaded landscapes. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology Volume 63 is January 7, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys (Stål), is an invasive pentatomid introduced from Asia into the United States, Canada, multiple European countries, and Chile. In 2010, BMSB populations in the mid-Atlantic United States reached outbreak levels and subsequent feeding severely damaged tree fruit as well as other crops. Significant nuisance issues from adults overwintering inside homes were common. BMSB is a highly polyphagous species with a strong dispersal capacity and high reproductive output, potentially enabling its spread and success in invaded regions. A greater understanding of BMSB biology and ecology and its natural enemies, the identification of the male-produced aggregation pheromone, and the recognition that BMSB disperses into crops from adjacent wooded habitats have led to the development of behavior-based integrated pest management (IPM) tactics. Much is still unknown about BMSB, and continued long-term collaborative studies are necessary to refine crop-specific IPM programs and enhance biological control across invaded landscapes.Ann
p class="Standard">Ostracods are very common in rice fields and they can have a significant influence on the rice field ecosystem. They can reach very high densities, often higher than other meiofauna, and their activities can have both positive and negative effects on rice harvests. They directly affect nutrient recycling through excretion, and indirectly by physically disturbing the soil and releasing minerals, thus improving rice growth. On the other hand, ostracods grazing on nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria potentially reduce rice yields. Rice is a primary staple food for over half of the world’s population, and therefore ostracods can have a significant impact on human food supply. The origin of the rice field ostracod fauna is poorly known, but many rice field ostracods are considered invasive, especially in southern Europe, and from rice fields they have the potential to spread to surrounding natural habitats. Despite their invasive potential and ecological effects on the rice field ecosystem, very little is known about the diversity, ecology and impacts of rice field ostracods in many rice-producing countries. One hundred and ninety-two named ostracod species/subspecies have been reported from rice fields in 26 countries and states worldwide in the published literature; for over three-quarters of rice-producing countries, no data are readily available, and for most of the countries that have available data, diversity is clearly under-reported. Most species that have been documented from rice fields belong to the Cyprididae (78%), a family that makes up approximately 43% of the 2500+ non-marine ostracod species. A further six families (Candonidae, Darwinulidae, Entocytheridae, Ilyocyprididae, Limnocytheridae and Notodromadidae) form the remainder of rice field ostracods. Twenty-two percent of the species reported from rice fields are sexually reproducing, 18% have mixed reproduction, but are mostly asexual, and for 60% males are unknown, and are probably entirely asexually reproducing species. This review and checklist of rice field ostracods are presented to facilitate further research on this group in rice field habitats, research that is crucial for food security in many regions.</p
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 emerging and potential future invaders that have no invasion history. Such a metric would also ideally apply across diverse taxonomic and trophic groups.
We derive a new metric of invader ecological impact that blends: (i) the classic Functional Response ( FR ; consumer per capita effect) and Numerical Response ( NR ; consumer population response) approaches to determining consumer impact, that is, the Total Response ( TR = FR × NR ), with; (ii) the ‘Parker–Lonsdale equation’ for invader impact, where Impact = Range × Abundance × Effect ( per capita effect), into; (iii) a new metric, Relative Impact Potential ( RIP ), where RIP = FR × Abundance. The RIP metric is an invader/native ratio, where values >1 predict that invader ecological impact will occur, and increasing values above 1 indicate increasing impact. In addition, the invader/invader RIP ratio allows comparisons of the ecological impacts of different invaders.
Across a diverse range of trophic and taxonomic groups, including predators, herbivores, animals and plants (22 invader/native systems with 47 individual comparisons), high‐impact invaders were significantly associated with higher FR s compared to native trophic analogues. However, the RIP metric substantially improves this association, with 100% predictive power of high‐impact invaders.
Further, RIP scores were significantly and positively correlated with two independent ecological impact scores for invaders, allowing prediction of the degree of impact of invasive alien species with the RIP metric. Finally, invader/invader RIP scores were also successful in identifying and associating with higher impacting invasive alien species.
Synthesis and applications . The Relative Impact Potential metric combines the per capita effects of invaders with their abundances, relative to trophically analogous natives, and is successful in predicting the likelihood and degree of ecological impact caused by invasive alien species. As the metric constitutes readily measurable features of individuals, populations and species across abiotic and biotic context‐dependencies, even emerging and potential future invasive alien species can be assessed. The Relative Impact Potential metric can be rapidly utilized by scientists and practitioners and could inform policy and management of invasive alien species across diverse taxonomic and trophic groups.
Significance
This work provides a complete experimental answer to the longstanding question of which local factors determine the success (i.e., establishment, growth, and flowering) of common nonnative plant invaders at their coldest physiological limits. Using a multifactorial seed-addition experiment along repeated elevational gradients in two sub(ant)arctic mountain regions, we pinpoint the relative contribution of all main candidate determinants: temperature, disturbance, nutrient addition, and propagule pressure. We warn that climate change and direct human disturbances will together result in increased plant invasion in cold-climate ecosystems in the near future.
Most commonly used techniques for treating ostracod soft body for taxonomical purposes with optical microscopy are described with emphasis on the order Podocopida. A variety of procedures for pre-treatment, storage, recovery of dried specimens, dissection, temporary and permanent mounting, and staining methods are presented and evaluated. General morphology and terminology of the ostracod appendages are also summarised.
We review the utility of ostracods for palaeoclimatic reconstruction at different taxonomic levels. Ostracods can provide palaeoenvironmental information based on several approaches. The chemical and isotopic composition of their mineral shells as well as the relatively minor organic component trapped within the carbonate lattice may give direct quantitative evidence of conditions in their natural habitat. Morphological observations and detailed morphometric records of valve size, shape and outline within a species may provide subtle clues to environmental changes between different habitats or adjacent stratigraphic intervals. Uniformitarian approaches can be applied to species, genera and supra-generic classifications but with decreasing resolution and increasing uncertainty in palaeoenvironmental significance (1) the higher the taxonomic unit and (2) the older the material geologically. The classical methodology of combining the habitat and environmental preferences of individual species to infer palaeoclimatic conditions remains as valid today as when such observations were first made in the nineteenth century.
Criteria for distinguishing introduced from endemic peracaridan crustaceans were used to deduce that a human-borne global invasion by the Oriental isopod Synidotea laevidorsalis (Miers, 1881) has occurred in the past 100 years. These criteria concern the ecological, evoluntionary, and geographical attributes of introduced species. The criteria were used first to hypothesize that Synidotea laticauda is an introduced species in the eastern Pacific that arrived on the hulls of nineteenth-century sailing ships. This hypothesis was tested by searching for previously described conspecifics throughout the world. The search culminated in discoveries that Synidotea laticauda Benedict, 1897 of the eastern Pacific and Synidotea marplatensis (Giambiagi, 1922) of the Atlantic coast of South America are misidentified populations and thus synonymies of S. laevidorsalis. Synidotea brunnea Pires and Moreira, 1975, of central Brazil is also a probable junior synonym of S. laevidorsalis. The discovery of these synonymies was thus based upon predictive criteria rather than inductive classical, taxonomic revisions. These errors in species identifications indicate that the prevalence of marine and estuarine introductions has been underestimated and that the extent of many introductions remains poorly resolved.
With the exception of climate change, biological invasions have probably received more attention during the past ten years than any other ecological topic. Yet this is the first synthetic, single-authored overview of the field since Williamson's 1996 book. Written fifty years after the publication of Elton's pioneering monograph on the subject, Invasion Biology provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the science of biological invasions while also offering new insights and perspectives relating to the processes of introduction, establishment, and spread. The book connects science with application by describing the health, economic, and ecological impacts of invasive species as well as the variety of management strategies developed to mitigate harmful impacts. The author critically evaluates the approaches, findings, and controversies that have characterized invasion biology in recent years, and suggests a variety of future research directions. Carefully balanced to avoid distinct taxonomic, ecosystem, and geographic (both investigator and species) biases, the book addresses a wide range of invasive species (including protists, invertebrates, vertebrates, fungi, and plants) which have been studied in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments throughout the world by investigators equally diverse in their origins. This accessible and thought-provoking text will be of particular interest to graduate level students and established researchers in the fields of invasion biology, community ecology, conservation biology, and restoration ecology. It will also be of value and use to land managers, policy makers, and other professionals charged with controlling the negative impacts associated with recently arrived species.
The two widespread ostracod genera Cypria Zenker, 1854 and Physocypria Vávra, 1897 are traditionally distinguished based on the presence or absence of tubercles on the right valve margin. However, recent research based on soft body parts has uncovered new cryptic genera within Cypria and Physocypria. Following this line of research, a new Cyclocyprididae genus and species, Vizcainocypria viator gen. nov. sp. nov., is here described from individuals collected in rice fields and wetlands of the Iberian Peninsula. Vizcainocypria is compared with Cypria, Physocypria, Dentocypria Savatenalinton, 2017, Keysercypria Karanovic, 2011, Brasilocypria Almeida et al., 2023, and Claudecypria Almeida et al., 2023 based on morphological evidence. Besides the presence or absence of tubercles on the right valve, these genera can be distinguished according to their mandibular palp, second thoracopod, caudal ramus, and male hemipenis. Molecular analyses using mitochondrial (COX1), and nuclear (28S rDNA) genes provide further support for the differentiation of Cypria, Dentocypria, Physocypria and Vizcainocypria gen. nov. The present study highlights the importance of using an integrative taxonomy approach, combining shell and soft-body parts morphology and molecular data, to characterize the rich diversity of freshwater ostracods.
‘Can we doubt … that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind?’ In the Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply held beliefs of the Western world. His insistence on the immense length of the past and on the abundance of life-forms, present and extinct, dislodged man from his central position in creation and called into question the role of the Creator. He showed that new species are achieved by natural selection, and that absence of plan is an inherent part of the evolutionary process. Darwin's prodigious reading, experimentation, and observations on his travels fed into his great work, which draws on material from the Galapagos Islands to rural Staffordshire, from English back gardens to colonial encounters. The present edition provides a detailed and accessible discussion of his theories and adds an account of the immediate responses to the book on publication. The resistances as well as the enthusiasms of the first readers cast light on recent controversies, particularly concerning questions of design and descent.
For many species, human-induced environmental changes are important indirect drivers of range expansion into new regions. We argue that it is important to distinguish the range dynamics of such species from those that occur without, or with less clear, involvement of human-induced environmental changes. We elucidate the salient features of the rapid increase in the number of species whose range dynamics are human induced, and review the relationships and differences to both natural range expansion and biological invasions. We discuss the consequences for science, policy and management in an era of rapid global change and highlight four key challenges relating to basic gaps in knowledge, and the transfer of scientific understanding to biodiversity management and policy. We conclude that range-expanding species responding to human-induced environmental change will become an essential feature for biodiversity management and science in the Anthropocene. Finally, we propose the term neonative for these taxa.
Human activities such as the transport of species to new regions and modifications of the environment are increasingly reshaping the distribution of biota. Accordingly, developing robust, repeatable, and consistent definitions of alien species that serve scientific and policy purposes has become of prime importance. We provide a set of classification criteria that are widely applicable across taxa and realms and offer guidance on their use in practice. The criteria focus on (a) acknowledging the role of assessment uncertainty, (b) incorporating time since introduction, (c) considering infraspecific taxonomic ranks, and (d) differentiating between alien species whose survival depends on explicit human assistance from those that survive without such assistance. Furthermore, we make recommendations for reducing assessment uncertainty, suggest thresholds for species assessment, and develop an assessment scheme. We illustrate the application of the assessment criteria with case studies. Finally, the implications for alien species management, policy, and research are discussed.
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 emerging and potential future invaders that have no invasion history. Such a metric would also ideally apply across diverse taxonomic and trophic groups. 2. We derive a new metric of invader ecological impact that blends: (i) the classic Functional Response (FR; consumer per capita effect) and Numerical Response (NR; consumer population response) approaches to determining consumer impact, that is, the Total Response (TR = FR × NR), with; (ii) the ‘Parker–Lonsdale equation’ for invader impact, where Impact = Range × Abundance × Effect (per capita effect), into; (iii) a new metric, Relative Impact Potential (RIP), where RIP = FR × Abundance. The RIP metric is an invader/native ratio, where values >1 predict that invader ecological impact will occur, and increasing values above 1 indicate increasing impact. In addition, the invader/invader RIP ratio allows comparisons of the ecological impacts of different invaders. 3. Across a diverse range of trophic and taxonomic groups, including predators, herbivores, animals and plants (22 invader/native systems with 47 individual comparisons), high-impact invaders were significantly associated with higher FRs compared to native trophic analogues. However, the RIP metric substantially improves this association, with 100% predictive power of high-impact invaders. 4. Further, RIP scores were significantly and positively correlated with two independent ecological impact scores for invaders, allowing prediction of the degree of impact of invasive alien species with the RIP metric. Finally, invader/invader RIP scores were also successful in identifying and associating with higher impacting invasive alien species. 5. Synthesis and applications. The Relative Impact Potential metric combines the per capita effects of invaders with their abundances, relative to trophically analogous natives, and is successful in predicting the likelihood and degree of ecological impact caused by invasive alien species. As the metric constitutes readily measurable features of individuals, populations and species across abiotic and biotic context-dependencies, even emerging and potential future invasive alien species can be assessed. The Relative Impact Potential metric can be rapidly utilized by scientists and practitioners and could inform policy and management of invasive alien species across diverse taxonomic and trophic groups.
Animal vectors are essential for the movement of invertebrate resting eggs between water bodies. However, differences in habitat preferences and feeding behaviour between bird species may result in variations in the dispersal of invertebrates via these birds, even if the different bird species live in the same lake. To test such effects, faecal samples from Anas platyrhynchos (collected in autumn and spring) and Tadorna tadorna (collected in spring) were cultured in water at 20° C and 12 L: 12 D conditions in order to quantify the resting eggs which could be internally transported by these birds. One half of each faecal sample was initially cultured at a conductivity of 0.6 mS cm⁻¹ and the other half at 6 mS cm⁻¹. 1054 invertebrates hatched from a total of 60 faecal samples, including cladocerans, copepods, ostracods, rotifers and ciliates, with a wide variability among faeces. Autumn yielded a low proportion of samples with hatchlings (12.5%) compared to spring (90%). Significant differences were observed between birds, but not between conductivity treatments. Thus, our results imply different hatching dynamics affected by disperser and season, but most species transported as resting eggs by birds seem to have a wide tolerance to hatch under variable salinity conditions. These differences may largery influence the metacommunity dynamics of lake networks, and could be a key factor to consider in wetland conservation planning.
The freshwater ostracod Cyprilla humilis Sars, 1924 was first descibe from the Cape Province of South Africa, together with four other species of Cyprilla Sars, 1924, a genus subsequently considered by other authors to be a subgenus or a junior synonym of Potamocypris Brady, 1870. It was argued that Cyprilla humilis at a single locality on the southern coast of Finland represented a possibly short-lived population, perhaps originating from a single parthenogenetic female, transported from southern Africa by migratory terms which nest in the Finnish archipelago and overwinter in the Cape Province. Subsequent records from the same Finnish locality and another nearby led to the alternative suggestion that it was a long-term resident that had simply been overlooked. Our discovery of a population in a coastal rockpool on an island off the West coast of Scotland provides the first British record and an opportunity for further description and illustration of its morphology and ontogeny. Notable characteristics include: long swimming setae on the antennae; adult carapace with a sharply truncated posterior margin in lateral view and strongly pitted ornament; prominent anterior and posteroventral marginal flanges in the adult left value; and the occurrence in juvenile carapaces of prominent tubercles which are completely absent in adults. None of these characteristics is considered adequate to merit the retention of Cyprilla as a separate genus or subgenus, however. We consider possible explanation for its disjunct distribution and discuss the evidence for dispersal of ostracods by birds.
Human-mediated dispersal has rarely been considered in wetland conservation strategies at regional scales, yet high concern exists about this aspect for (inter-)national management considering invasive species in other aquatic systems. In this context, we aim at understanding the role of human-mediated dispersal by footwear in protected wetlands with high conservation value. Zooplankton and zoobenthos were sampled in 13 shallow lakes in central Spain and, at the same time, mud attached to waders was collected and later cultured in deionized water under laboratory conditions for 4 weeks. Two-hundred and four individuals belonging to 19 invertebrate taxa were recovered after hatching; Ostracoda (84 %), Cladocera (53 %), Copepoda (30 %), Anostraca (30 %), and Notostraca (7 %) were the most frequent groups among the hatched crustaceans. NMDS and PERMANOVA analyses showed significant differences between the dispersed (via footwear) and the source active metacommunity, suggesting different dispersal abilities among the species found. Human vectors facilitate dispersal among protected lakes, which could eventuality lead to biotic homogenization and faster spread of non-indigenous species. Preservation strategies and education campaigns associated to target humans in close contact with water bodies should be imperative in conservation management of protected lakes.
ABSTRACT The eggs of many crustaceans are minute and resistant to desiccation. These properties favour their accidental dispersal and parthenogenesis ensures survival in the newly occupied niches. Agencies by which such dispersal is achieved have been long ensconced in the literature. The role of man as an agent of crustacean dispersal via the spread of useful plants, however, has been relatively neglected hitherto but the example provided by ostracode ospiti esteri of the Italian ricefields ecosystem indicates that this neglect is unwarranted. Italian historical and archaeobotanical records concerning the introductions of numerous other useful plants make it obvious that the dispersal potential of this agency cannot be restricted to rice only. When modem Ostracoda assemblages from Europe are compared against fossil ones, their dissimilarity suggests a high proportion of introduced species in the modern biota. The implications of this are discussed.