Global distribution of Fabaeformiscandona subacuta: an exotic invasive Ostracoda on the Iberian Peninsula?

Artificial dam lakes as suitable habitats for exotic invertebrates: Ostracoda ecology and distribution in reservoirs of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula

“…As discussed in Valls et al (2013), the species was previously found in Eastern Africa, Eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand, but not in Europe. These findings suggest that this exotic species is expanding in the eastern Iberian Peninsula, in a similar way as another potential invader of Asian origin, F. subacuta (Escrivà et al, 2012), which has been found several times in the studied reservoirs. Ilyocypris getica is here reported for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula (see Baltanás et al, 1996 for a review of ostracod species in the area).…”

“…In addition to these level changes of natural origin, human management trying to keep water level constant and as high as possible, also affect the ostracod communities of the reservoirs. These fluctuations lead to the summer dominance of species tolerant to low oxygen and high temperature and trophic state, such as D. stevensoni (Rossi et al, 2002) and F. subacuta (Escrivà et al, 2012), rather than species colonizing from upstream rivers. This duality, functioning both as deep permanent lakes in the centre and temporary habitats at littoral areas, allows the presence of ostracod species such as Eucypris virens or I. gibba during wet periods (from fall to spring), which show more preferences for temporary waters (Meisch, 2000;Martins et al, 2009).…”

“…Birds are well-known dispersal agents of aquatic invertebrates: they have the ability to transport propagules and living adults, either as mud adhered to their legs and or in their faeces (Figuerola and Green, 2002;Frisch et al, 2007). Birds should therefore be regarded as possible dispersal vectors for exotic species present in reservoirs, which can be coming from the nearby ricefields, a type of habitat that has been recognised as specially suitable for exotic ostracods (Forés et al, 1986;McKenzie and Moroni, 1986;Escrivà et al, 2012). In this study we have shown how reservoirs can be a new and suitable habitat for the colonization of exotic species of ostracods in the frame of the Mediterranean area.…”

“…Although riverine ostracods in eastern Spain have been studied before (Mezquita et al, 1999(Mezquita et al, , 2001, there is not any comprehensive survey of this widespread crustacean group in Iberian or European reservoirs hitherto. In our broad survey, we aimed at contributing to the knowledge of exotic ostracod species, which have been poorly reported from Spanish freshwater ecosystems (Forés et al, 1986, Escrivà et al, 2012. Despite reservoirs are physically connected to their associated rivers, they should be considered disparate ecosystems, and therefore we expected to found wide differences in ostracod assemblages between them.…”

Human-mediated dispersal of aquatic invertebrates with waterproof footwear

“…plants and invertebrates are among the main target groups of research on human-mediated dispersal (e.g., Griffiths et al 1991;Ansong and Pickering 2014). The majority of these studies focused on commercial transport (of goods such as seeds, soil, aquaria, and machinery) and on organisms attached to boats or in ship ballast waters (e.g., Carlton 1999;Reichard and White 2001;Escrivà et al 2012). This is mainly due to the rise of dispersal events with the increase of international commerce, now further expanded through the use of internet (Lenda et al 2014); e-commerce delivers, over new and traditionally routes, different species to far away places producing an increase of long-distance dispersal events.…”