Life history characteristics of the potentially invasive Ponto-Caspian goby Neogobius fluviatilis in natural lakes from its native range (Black Sea region of Turkey)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to provide baseline data and fill an outstanding knowledge gap in our understanding of factors affecting the invasiveness of the Ponto-Caspian gobiid Neogobius fluviatilis. To this end, the life history traits (as somatic growth and reproduction) of N. fluviatilis were studied in three natural freshwater lakes in its native range. These populations were characterised by slow somatic growth rates, being the slowest reported across all the native and non-native ranges of N. fluviatilis. Ages were recorded to 7 years. Across the three lakes, there was considerable variability in sex ratios and reproductive traits (including length at maturity and fecundity at length and age), revealing considerable interpopulation variability. These data suggest that N. fluviatilis has considerable plasticity in the expression of its life history traits, with this plasticity argued as a key factor in facilitating the ability of N. fluviatilis to establish and invade new waters following introductions.

Plasticity in the feeding ecology of native Ponto‐Caspian gobies suggests establishment success in their nonnative range

“…In the present study, gut content analysis of P. semilunaris and N. fluviatilis from some natural lakes within both species’ native range revealed overall similarities in prey consumption, with dietary overlap evident during the spawning period (Karakuş et al, ; Top et al, ). Previous studies on the diet of N. fluviatilis consistently indicate that this gobiid consumes a broad spectrum of prey items, which in its nonnative range consist mainly of macroinvertebrates (i.e., Amphipoda, Bivalvia, Chironomidae, Odonata, and Trichoptera; Adámek et al, ; Grabowska et al, ; Kakareko et al, ; Piria et al, ), and in its native range of Bivalvia, Chironomidae and other insects, Crustacea, Oligochaeta, Polychaeta, Mollusca, as well as fish eggs and small fish (i.e., Black Sea and Sea of Azov basins; Abdoli, Rahmani, & Rasooli, ; Gaygusuz et al, ; Pinchuk et al, ; Smirnov, ).…”

“…Using a Euclidean distance measure following normalization of the data, these were used to obtain a distance matrix, which was subjected to 9,999 permutations of the raw data and tested for significance, with a posteriori pairwise comparisons evaluated at α = 0.10 for heuristic purposes (Kline, ). To assess ontogenetic variation in feeding, both species were divided into two groups (adult and juvenile) based on size at maturity for P. semilunaris (Top, Karakuş, Tepeköy, Britton, & Tarkan, ) and N. fluviatilis (Karakuş et al, ).…”

“…Although N. fluviatilis is expected to spread more slowly compared to some other invasive gobies such as round goby N. Melanostomus and bighead goby Ponticola kessleri because of morphological differences and specific habitat preferences for sandy–gravel substrata (Čápová, Zlatnická, Kováč, & Katina, ), this species is still considered to carry a moderate‐to‐high potential of being invasive in Belarus (Mastitsky, Karatayev, Burlakova, & Adamovich, ), Iberia (Almeida, Ribeiro, Leunda, Vilizzi, & Copp, ), Southern Finland (Puntila, Vilizzi, Lehtiniemi, & Copp, ), the Balkans (Simonović et al, ), and Croatia (Piria et al, ). Also, N. fluviatilis has been listed as one of the five potentially high‐impact nonnative species for the Great Lakes Basin (Pagnucco et al, ) and its high invasiveness potential has been attributed to some advanced life‐history traits that include an extended spawning period combined with parental care (Karakuş, Top, Tepeköy, Britton, & Tarkan, ), phenotypic plasticity (Čápová et al, ) and an opportunistic feeding strategy (Grabowska et al, ; Kakareko, Żbikowski, & Żytkowicz, ). Yet, so far there have been no reported impacts (e.g., Jakšić, Jadan, & Piria, ; Piria, Jakšić, Jakovlić, & Treer, ), even though the ecological role of both P. semilunaris and N. fluviatilis is thought to be substantial in invaded systems given their predatory behavior (e.g., Piria et al, ; Všetičková et al, ).…”

“…Like many other bio‐ecological features (e.g., Karakuş et al, ; Valová, Konečná, Janác, & Jurajda, ), the feeding ecology of both P. semilunaris and N. fluviatilis has been investigated to some extent in both their native (Adámek, Andreji, & Gallardo, ; Gaygusuz, Gürsoy Gaygusuz, Tarkan, Acıpınar, & Türer, ; Pinchuk, Vasil’eva, Vasil’ev, & Miller, ) and nonnative ranges (Grabowska et al, ; Kakareko et al, ; Kocovsky et al, ; Vanderploeg et al, ; Vašek et al, ; Všeticková et al, ). However, in their native range of Turkey, only one single study per species is available (i.e., Gaygusuz et al, ; Gürsoy Gaygusuz, Tarkan, & Gaygusuz, ), making both the assessment and management of their risks of invasion (i.e., through translocation) poorly informed.…”

Age, growth and reproductive traits of invasive gobyTaenioides cirratusin the Chaohu Lake, China

“…Generation time is widely used as an indicator for invasion risk assessment (Rosecchi, Thomas, & Crivelli, ). Short generation is regarded as one of the key life history traits that associate with high invasion risk for various vertebrate groups, including fishes (Olden et al, ), birds (Jeppsson & Forslund, ) and mammals (Davidson, Hamilton, Boyer, Brown, & Ceballos, ).The lifespan of goby fish varies greatly among species, ranging from 1 year for the Eucyclogobius newberryi (Swcnson, ) to 7 years for the Neogobius fluviatilis (Karakuş, Karakuş, Tepekoy, Britton, & Tarkan, ). In present study, otolith based age determination showed that T. cirratus in the Chaohu Lake was a short‐lived species as the oldest individual was 3+ years old while most individuals were in age 1+ and 2+ group and only 6.2% individuals were in age 3+ group.…”