Impact of eastern mosquitofish,<i>Gambusia holbrooki,</i>on temporary ponds: insights on how predation may structure zooplankton communities

Haiahem, Dalal; Touati, Laïd; Baaziz, Nasser; Samraoui, Farrah; Alfarhan, Ahmed H.

doi:10.1080/21658005.2017.1337372

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Nevertheless, our results concur with prior studies that have documented high rates of predation by mosquitofish on freshwater planktonic populations, which lead to cascading effects on primary productivity. [40][41][42]78 We also found that, once mosquitofish were removed from the mesocosms, planktonic populations recovered quickly, particularly in the control treatment. This suggests that mosquitofish exert important top−down effects, but that these effects can be reversed following predator removal.…”

Section: Environmental Science and Technology Pubsacsorg/est Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmaceutical Pollution Alters the Structure of Freshwater Communities and Hinders Their Recovery from a Fish Predator

Michelangeli,

Martin,

Robson

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Freshwater ecosystems are under threat from rising pharmaceutical pollution. While such pollutants are known to elicit biological effects on organisms, we have limited knowledge on how these effects might cascade through food-webs, disrupt ecological processes, and shape freshwater communities. In this study, we used a mesocosm experiment to explore how the community impacts of a top-order predator, the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), are mediated by exposure to environmentally relevant low (measured concentration: ∼10 ng/L) and high concentrations (∼110 ng/L) of the pervasive pharmaceutical pollutant fluoxetine. We found no evidence that exposure to fluoxetine altered the consumptive effects of mosquitofish on zooplankton. However, once mosquitofish were removed from the mesocosms, zooplankton abundance recovered to a greater extent in control mesocosms compared to both low and high fluoxetineexposed mesocosms. By the end of the experiment, this resulted in fundamental differences in community structure between the control and fluoxetine-treated mesocosms. Specifically, the control mesocosms were characterized by higher zooplankton abundances and lower algal biomass, whereas mesocosms exposed to either low or high concentrations of fluoxetine had lower zooplankton abundances and higher algal biomass. Our results suggest that fluoxetine, even at very low concentrations, can alter aquatic communities and hinder their recovery from disturbances.

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Section: Environmental Science and Technology Pubsacsorg/est Articlementioning

confidence: 99%

Pharmaceutical Pollution Alters the Structure of Freshwater Communities and Hinders Their Recovery from a Fish Predator

Michelangeli,

Martin,

Robson

et al. 2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…Very often, dams and large reservoirs are stocked with or invaded by common carp Cyprinus carpio and the mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki. Both species have had a devastating impact on the freshwater fauna of the floodplain (Samraoui, 2002;Annani, Alfarhan & Samraoui, 2012;Haiahem et al, 2017). The restoration of the Oued Kebir-East hydrosystem and the Mekhada marsh, a Ramsar wetland, under the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), would probably be a challenging but worthwhile project.…”

Section: Threats and Environmental Regulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography, ecology, and conservation of mayfly communities of relict mountain streams, north‐eastern Algeria

Samraoui

Márquez‐Rodríguez

Ferreras‐Romero

et al. 2021

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Data on Maghrebian mayfly communities are scarce and fragmentary, but evidence of alterations of the North African riverine landscape depleting the freshwater biota is rapidly mounting.2. In contrast to the overexploited lowlands, the highlands of north-eastern Algeria are hotspots of freshwater biodiversity and the last refugia to micro-endemics, North African endemics, and Eurosiberian relicts. 3. The mayflies of relict mountain streams of north-eastern Algeria were investigated and 20 species or taxa in five families were recorded. Two species of the genus Habrophlebia and one species of Centroptilum are new to science, whereas two Rhithrogena species are new to Algeria, including the Numidian endemic Rhithrogena sartorii. 4. Co-inertia analysis suggested a highly significant co-structure between mayfly assemblages and habitats defined by altitude, flow velocity, bed width, water depth, and water conductivity. In addition, a Poisson generalized linear model indicated a strong positive relationship between species richness and water depth and a weaker negative one with bed width (stream size). The results are congruent with the hypothesis that habitat provides the templet that drives mayfly communities, and they support the use of mayflies as bioindicators in the implementation of monitoring schemes to assess the ecological integrity of Maghrebian freshwater biodiversity hotspots. 5. The upstream part of the Kebir-East river basin is subjected to forest fires, pollution, and flow alteration, whereas the downstream part, which includes the vast Mekhada marsh, is increasingly fragmented and invaded by alien fish species. Conservation efforts focusing on the management of Oued Kebir-East, a transboundary Maghrebian river, and the restoration of the Mekhada marsh, a Ramsar site, need to be launched during the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

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“…The Eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) [21,22] is an invasive species that very often interacts with A. iberus, because both share similar habitats [23] and compete for the same resources [24,25]. Both fish species are zooplanktivorous, but G. holbrooki consumes mainly cladocerans, ostracods and copepods [26,27], and A. iberus prefers harpacticoid copepods, copepod nauplii and detritus [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Influencing Abundances and Population Size Structure of the Threatened and Endemic Cyprinodont Aphanius iberus in Mediterranean Brackish Ponds

Sgarzi

Brucet

Bartrons

et al. 2020

Water

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Aphanius iberus is an endemic cyprinodontoid fish species of Mediterranean ponds in danger of extinction. In this study, we studied some abiotic and biotic factors that can influence A. iberus’s size structure and density in Mediterranean brackish ponds. We sampled fish using fyke nets in 10 ponds of Empordà (Spain) during the spring season. Our results showed that a better ecological status (according to the Water Quality of Lentic and Shallow Ecosystems (QAELS) index), pond’s depth and pond’s isolation (reflected by an increase in total nitrogen) were related to larger individual sizes and more size-diverse populations. Increasing the salinity is known to help the euryhaline A. iberus acting as a refuge from competitors. Nevertheless, our results showed that higher conductivities had a negative effect on A. iberus’s size structure, leading to a decrease in the mean and maximum size of the fish. Fish abundance (expressed as captures per unit of effort (CPUE)) seemed to increase with increasing the pond’s depth and total nitrogen (the latter reflecting pond isolation). In conclusion, our results suggest that achieving a better pond ecological status may be important for the conservation of endangered A. iberus, because better size-structured populations (i.e., larger mean and average lengths) were found at higher water quality conditions.

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Impact of eastern mosquitofish,Gambusia holbrooki,on temporary ponds: insights on how predation may structure zooplankton communities

Cited by 12 publications

References 72 publications

Pharmaceutical Pollution Alters the Structure of Freshwater Communities and Hinders Their Recovery from a Fish Predator

Pharmaceutical Pollution Alters the Structure of Freshwater Communities and Hinders Their Recovery from a Fish Predator

Biogeography, ecology, and conservation of mayfly communities of relict mountain streams, north‐eastern Algeria

Factors Influencing Abundances and Population Size Structure of the Threatened and Endemic Cyprinodont Aphanius iberus in Mediterranean Brackish Ponds

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