Comments on increasing number and abundance of non-indigenous aquatic macrophyte species in Germany

Hussner, Andreas; Weyer, Klaus van de; Gross, Elisabeth Maria; Hilt, Sabine

doi:10.1111/j.1365-3180.2010.00812.x

Cited by 58 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…They note that in New Zealand, invasive macrophytes are already prolific, but their results demonstrate that H. verticillata can compete with already invasive species which may create additional problems for management. Hussner et al (2010) noted that in Germany, invasions are correlated with human population density and cultural eutrophication. Thus, if eutrophication continues, there are additional opportunities for subsequent invasions to occur.…”

Section: Fluctuating Resources and Opportunity Windowsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ecological mechanisms of invasion success in aquatic macrophytes

2014

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Aquatic plants (macrophytes) are important components of freshwater ecosystems and serve numerous purposes that structure aquatic communities. Although macrophytes represent an essential component of stable aquatic communities, invasive macrophytes negatively alter ecosystem properties. Non-native, invasive species have been identified as a major cause of biodiversity loss and the increasing prevalence of invasive species has prompted studies to help understand their impacts and to conserve biodiversity. Studying mechanisms of invasion also give insight into how communities are structured and assembled. This paper examined mechanisms that contribute to macrophyte invasion through a literature review. Mechanisms identified with this review included competition, enemy release, evolution of increased competitive ability, mutualisms, invasional meltdown, novel weapons, allelopathy, phenotypic plasticity, naturalization of related species, empty niche, fluctuating resources, opportunity windows, and propagule pressure; and were then placed within the context of the invasion process. Results of this review indicated that many invasion mechanisms have been tested with fully aquatic macrophytes with varied levels of support (i.e., some mechanisms are not supported by evidence in the context of macrophyte invasions). Future research should continue the search for evidence of invasion mechanisms that allow introduced species to establish. It is likely that general principles governing these invasions do not exist, at least among comparisons across ecosystem types. However, ecologists should continue to search for general patterns within definable ecosystem units to increase understanding about factors contributing to invasibility.

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Section: Fluctuating Resources and Opportunity Windowsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Ecological mechanisms of invasion success in aquatic macrophytes

2014

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“…Consequently, our analysis was restricted to invasive macroinvertebrates. Invasive vertebrates, plants, or microbes causing diseases such as the crayfish plague were not considered, although they are also widespread in Germany and can have strong ecological impacts (Hussner et al, 2010;Kornis et al, 2013). The macroinverebrate monitoring was based on multi-habitat sampling (Haase et al, 2004a) and covered 7394 sampling sites ( Figure S1).…”

Section: Risk Thresholds For Invasive Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of organic toxicants to multiple stress in river ecosystems

et al. 2016

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SUMMARY1. River ecosystems are threatened by multiple stressors, including habitat degradation, pollution and invasive species. However, freshwater ecologists have largely disregarded the contribution of toxicants to stress in rivers, whereas ecotoxicologists have primarily examined toxicant effects in artificial systems. As a result, there is a paucity of information on the co-occurrence of organic toxicants with other stressors and on the relative importance of toxicants for overall ecological risk in rivers. 2. We used monitoring data for German rivers to analyse the individual and joint occurrence of four stressors: habitat degradation, invasive species, nutrient pollution and organic toxicants. All stressors were examined for ecological risks in terms of whether they exceeded low-and high-risk thresholds derived from published studies and regulatory thresholds. 3. Nutrients and habitat degradation exceeded low and high risk thresholds at c. 85% of the sites and invasive species and organic toxicants at c. 50% of the sites. At least one stressor exceeded thresholds at all sites for which data on all four stressors were available. Toxicity showed weak positive correlations with nutrients and habitat degradation (0.2 < Spearman's q < 0.34, 0.009 < P < 0.08). The risks of ecological effects arising from habitat degradation and invasive species were higher in lowland rivers, particularly for invasive species. 4. Our assessment shows that organic toxicants contribute notably to risks of ecological effects in rivers, to a similar extent as invasive species, although habitat degradation and nutrients are the dominant stressors. Exposure to multiple stressors is the typical situation prevailing in rivers. Consequently, mitigation measures focusing on individual stressors may not be effective at reducing ecological risks. This suggests that integrating concepts and data from freshwater ecology and ecotoxicology is essential to meet the challenge of managing multiple stressors in river ecosystems.

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“…Issues of habitat connectivity are paramount in many fresh waters as considered below, so it is unsurprising that invasions by exotic species including the synergistic influences of factors such as eutrophication, climate change and flow modification are a major issue around the world (dunham et al, 2002;Kats and ferrer, 2003;Hussner et al, 2010;Winfield et al, 2011;Hermoso et al, 2011;liu et al, 2011). The persistent message from studies of specific threats is that the global conservation of freshwater biodiversity must operate in a complex world subjected to often competing environmental demands.…”

Section: Single and Synergistic Threatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological conservation of aquatic inland habitats: these are better days

Winfield¹

2013

J Limnol

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The is evidence of real progress in this context and conservation scientists are now communicating their findings to environmental managers in a way and on a scale that was rarely seen a couple of decades ago. It is only in this way that scientific knowledge can be efficiently transferred to conservation planning, prioritisation and ultimately management in an increasingly scaled-up, joined-up and resource-limited world. The principle of 'prevention is better than cure' is particularly appropriate to most biological conservation issues in aquatic inland habitats and is inextricably

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Comments on increasing number and abundance of non-indigenous aquatic macrophyte species in Germany

Cited by 58 publications

References 29 publications

Ecological mechanisms of invasion success in aquatic macrophytes

Ecological mechanisms of invasion success in aquatic macrophytes

Contribution of organic toxicants to multiple stress in river ecosystems

Biological conservation of aquatic inland habitats: these are better days

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