The Chinese pond mussel Sinanodonta woodiana demographically outperforms European native mussels

Abstract

Unionid mussels are essential for the integrity of freshwater ecosystems but show rapid worldwide declines. The large-sized, thermophilic Chinese pond mussel Sinanodonta woodiana s.l., however, is a successful global invader, spread with commercially traded fish encysted with mussel larvae; its negative impacts on native mussels are expected. Here, we exploit a natural experiment provided by a simultaneous introduction of S. woodiana and four species of native unionids for water filtration to a pond in north-eastern Poland. Sinanodonta woodiana established a self-sustaining population and persisted for 19 years in suboptimal thermal conditions (mean annual temperature, 7.4 °C; mean temperature of the coldest month, − 3.7 °C, 73-day mean yearly ice-formation), extending the known limits of its cold tolerance. Over four study years, its frequency increased, and it showed higher potential for population growth than the native mussels, indicating possible future dominance shifts. Outbreaks of such sleeper populations are likely to be triggered by increasing temperatures. Additionally, our study documents the broad tolerance of S. woodiana concerning bottom sediments. It also points to the importance of intentional introductions of adult individuals and the bridgehead effect facilitating its further spread. We argue that S. woodiana should be urgently included in invasive species monitoring and management programmes.

Distribution and potential impacts of non-native Chinese pond mussels Sinanodonta woodiana (Lea, 1834) in Bavaria, Germany

“…Our results suggest that many types of inland waters are potentially suitable for S. woodiana, which has already been shown by others (e.g. Benkő-Kiss et al 2013;Douda et al 2012;Popa 2007;Urbańska and Andrzejewski 2019;Urbańska et al 2021). S. woodiana is often characterised as a thermophilic species since this mussel originates from tropical and subtropical areas (Kondakov et al 2018) and has predominantly invaded warmer natural waters in the southern part of Europe (Lajtner and Crncan 2011) as well as artificially heated waters and fish ponds in the northern part (Kraszewski and Zdanowski 2007).…”

“…For instance, predation of invasive muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) can cause considerable damages to mussel populations (Zahner-Meike and Hanson 2001) and also invasive freshwater crayfish appear to have negative impacts on native mussel populations (Dobler and Geist 2022;Meira et al 2019;Schmidt and Vandré 2012;Sousa et al 2019). Also, the spread of invasive freshwater bivalves can lead to increasing competition pressures (Urbańska et al 2021). The relatively small invasive Asian clam Corbicula fluminea (Müller, 1774), which, however, occurs in high densities, and the invasive zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771), both compete strongly with native mussels for food as a result of their high filtration rates (Cohen et al 1984;Phelps 1994;Strayer et al 1999).…”

“…Conversely, the recruitment of native unionids could be reduced if a host fish has already been infested with glochidia of S. woodiana as has been shown by Donrovich et al (2017) for Anodonta anatina. In addition, adult specimens have been reported to tolerate a wider range of substratum conditions in comparison with native mussel species (Urbańska et al 2021).…”

Environmental niche modelling of the Chinese pond mussel invasion in Europe under climate change scenarios

“…This is not surprising considering subtropical origin of the species and previous results of the species SDM (Mehler et al, 2024). Probability of presence in all our models decreases with decreasing temperature, whereas examples of successful adaptation to colder environments in the invasion range (Domagała et al, 2007;Kondakov et al, 2020) and even overwintering in ice-covered waterbodies (Urbańska et al, 2021) demonstrate that the Chinese pond mussel is quite resistant to the temperature decrease. The probability of presence in the recent climate model became non-random at the value of about 5 °C of the minimum temperature of the coldest month.…”

Reproduction in the tropical invasive freshwater mussel Sinanodonta pacifica (Unionidae), at different elevations in West Java, Indonesia

“…In Indonesia, S. pacifica is poorly monitored and studied, unaffected by most management measures, and not currently classified as invasive. It has been regarded as invasive in Poland since 2012 (Urbańska et al., 2021) and potentially invasive in Germany (Dobler et al., 2022). This species could invade native habitat and outcompete native species.…”