Do Ponto-Caspian species have inherent advantages over Northern European or Great Lake-St. Lawrence River species in colonizing new areas?

General information

Human-mediated invasions by nonindigenous species (NIS) are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Following the opening of the canals which link the North and Baltic Seas with the Black and Caspian Seas, fauna from the Black, Caspian and Azov Seas (i.e., Ponto-Caspian species) dispersed and became abundant in freshwater and estuarine ports of Northern Europe. The invasion history of the Laurentian Great Lakes reveals a more intriguing pattern, with most of these Ponto-Caspian invaders identified in the system after European invasions, and with many of these invaders being euryhaline brackish or marine species. Interestingly, this transfer has been asymmetrical, with only a few species from the Great Lakes having invaded European waters and almost no species from freshwater invading brackish or marine habitats. The simplest explanation for the comparatively large pool of species originating in the Ponto-Caspian region and emigrating from Europe to the Great Lakes may be that Ponto-Caspian species are inherently better colonizers than Northern European or Great Lakes’ species. This prediction is largely hypothetical, but nevertheless ecologically important if it can be demonstrated that species evolved in some areas are better colonizers. Thus, the main objectives of this study is to determine if Ponto-Caspian species have inherent advantages over Northern European or Great Lakes’ species in colonizing new areas and if they are capable to spread from brackish estuaries of Northern Europe to marine environments of the North and Baltic Seas.

Start

July, 2014

End

June, 2019

Funding (total)

1641000

Funding (GEOMAR)

1641000

Funding body / Programme

Other / Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung; Sofja Kovalevskaja-Preis

Coordination

Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel (GEOMAR), Germany

Contact

Elizabeta Briski