Desert pumpkinseed: diet composition and breadth in a Moroccan river

Gkenas, Christos; Magalhães, María Filomena; Campos-Martin, Nazaret; Ribeiro, Filipe; Clavero, Miguel

doi:10.1051/kmae/2021033

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Only nine species out of all 41 AS have been studied from an autoecological angle or assessed for their impacts on native biodiversity and the aquatic ecosystems of Morocco. Most of these studies were published only recently or are still in progress [12,14,15,31,44,53,61,62] + unpublished data. They all highlight the potential negative role of AS on local environments through bioaccumulation of heavy metals, predation/infection, competition, and hybridization with the native fauna.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of Freshwater Alien Animal Species in Morocco: Current Knowledge and Management Issues

Taybi¹,

Mabrouki‍

Piscart

2023

Diversity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This work presents currently available knowledge on alien species (AS) found in the inland waters of Morocco. The objective is to provide an updated list of alien species and identify the main introduction pathways and possible threats to native biodiversity. The dataset was built from an extensive literature search supplemented by our own research work (published or in progress). The main areas harboring xenodiversity in Moroccan freshwaters correspond to protected areas (e.g., Ramsar Site and SIBE). These areas are currently home to 41 confirmed AS belonging to different taxonomic groups. Fish are the most abundant taxonomic group with 21 species, followed by molluscs (7 species) and arthropods (7 species). The presence of 15 more species was also noticed but considered doubtful. Almost half of these AS were introduced intentionally. They correspond to restocking programs and are likely the most serious threat to native biodiversity through predation, competition, and hybridization. Commercial activities around aquarium and ornamental species appear as the second source favoring colonization by AS. Implementing protective regulations regarding the import of exotic species in Morocco appears very urgent to protect local native diversity. In addition, detecting and monitoring the expansion of AS within the colonized areas and studies improving biological and ecological knowledge seem crucial to mitigate their possible impacts on native communities and preserve Moroccan freshwater ecosystems.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of Freshwater Alien Animal Species in Morocco: Current Knowledge and Management Issues

Taybi¹,

Mabrouki‍

Piscart

2023

Diversity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Differences between groups were assessed using Analysis of Similarity (ANOSIM), following the protocol described by Gkenas et al, (2021). Similarity Percentage (SIMPER) analysis was used to examine the prey categories with the highest contribution to diet dissimilarity, following Gkenas et al (2021). Diet diversity at the population level was determined by the Shannon-Wiener index (H') using 95% bootstrapped con dence intervals (Gkenas et al, 2021).…”

Section: Diet Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarity Percentage (SIMPER) analysis was used to examine the prey categories with the highest contribution to diet dissimilarity, following Gkenas et al (2021). Diet diversity at the population level was determined by the Shannon-Wiener index (H') using 95% bootstrapped con dence intervals (Gkenas et al, 2021). All analyses were conducted in R (v4.2.1, R Development Core Team, 2022).…”

Section: Diet Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA metabarcoding reveals the diet of the invasive fish Oreochromis mossambicus in mangroves of São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea).

Nogueira

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Invasive species can trigger profound effects on recipient ecosystems, namely through the food web. Despite being recognized as one of the worst invasive species, little is known about the feeding ecology of the Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). To understand how this invasive species might impact food webs, we applied metabarcoding to analyze its diet’s composition in two mangroves, in the Obô Natural Park in the oceanic island of São Tomé. Given the particular importance of mangroves as fish nurseries, we specifically aimed to determine if this invader might predate on other fish species. However, tilapias were mostly phytoplanktivorous, and there were few indications of predation on native fish eggs or larvae. Instead, tilapias may impact low trophic level resources and nutrient availability with the potential to cascade through the food web by means of bottom-up disruption. In addition, we recorded important changes in the taxonomic composition of the diet, linked to locations and life stages, suggesting that its opportunistic feeding associated with its aggressive territorial behavior may result in resource competition with native species with which it has overlapping dietary niches.

show abstract

DNA metabarcoding reveals the diet of the invasive fish Oreochromis mossambicus in mangroves of São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea)

Nogueira,

Curto,

Gkenas

et al. 2023

Biol Invasions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Invasive species can trigger profound effects on recipient ecosystems, namely through the food web. Despite being recognized as one of the worst invasive species, little is known about the feeding ecology of the Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus. To understand how this invasive species might impact food webs, we applied metabarcoding to analyze its diet’s composition in two African mangroves, in the Obô Natural Park in the oceanic island of São Tomé. Given the particular importance of mangroves as fish nurseries, we specifically aimed to determine if this invader might predate on other fish species. However, we found that tilapia were mostly phytoplanktivorous and indication on predation of other fish was very limited. Instead, due to their local high densities, tilapia may impact basal trophic levels and nutrient availability with the potential to cascade through the food web by means of bottom-up disruption. In addition, we recorded important changes in the taxonomic composition of the diet, linked to locations and life stages, suggesting that its opportunistic feeding associated with its aggressive territorial behavior may result in resource competition with native species with which it has overlapping dietary niches.

show abstract

Desert pumpkinseed: diet composition and breadth in a Moroccan river

Cited by 3 publications

References 23 publications

Distribution of Freshwater Alien Animal Species in Morocco: Current Knowledge and Management Issues

Distribution of Freshwater Alien Animal Species in Morocco: Current Knowledge and Management Issues

DNA metabarcoding reveals the diet of the invasive fish Oreochromis mossambicus in mangroves of São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea).

DNA metabarcoding reveals the diet of the invasive fish Oreochromis mossambicus in mangroves of São Tomé Island (Gulf of Guinea)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About