Sea freshening may drive the ecological impacts of emerging and existing invasive non-native species

James W.E. Dickey; Ross N. Cuthbert; Gregor T. Steffen; Jaimie T.A. Dick; Elizabeta Briski

doi:10.1111/ddi.13178

Sea freshening may drive the ecological impacts of emerging and existing invasive non-native species

James W.E. Dickey^*, Ross N. Cuthbert, Gregor T. Steffen, Jaimie T.A. Dick, Elizabeta Briski

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)

77 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Aim: The spread of invasive non-native species (INNS) will pose major threats to global biodiversity over the coming decades. However, predicting how key effects of climate change will influence the abilities of INNS to establish and exert ecological impact is a major challenge. One overlooked aspect of global change is the expected freshening of certain marine systems, which may interact with INNS and lead to drastic effects on community structure and stability. Location: Baltic Sea, Europe. Methods: Here, using three predatory amphipod crustaceans, we experimentally assessed how salinity reduction may affect the impacts of the emerging INNS, Pontogammarus maeoticus, relative to an existing INNS, Gammarus tigrinus and a trophically analogous native, Gammarus salinus. We quantified per capita impacts of the three species via the comparative functional response method (prey consumption over a range of prey densities) under a predicted seawater freshening scenario. We then combined amphipod functional responses with their life history traits to compare population-level relative impact potential (RIP) on prey of the three amphipod species across salinities. Results: Freshening substantially altered the predicted relative ecological impacts of both the INNS compared with the native. First, the functional responses of invasive P. maeoticus and G. tigrinus increased under freshening, while that of the native G. salinus decreased. Second, RIP became consistently higher for both the INNS compared to the native with increased freshening. Main conclusions: Our methods thus reveal potential for climate change via seawater freshening to drive large shifts in dominance and ecological impacts of INNS compared with natives. With the number of INNS introductions unlikely to saturate in the near future, we highlight the need to assess the impacts of potential future INNS, alongside established non-natives and native species, in combination with abiotic changes associated with climate change.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	144-156
Journal	Diversity and Distributions
Volume	27
Issue number	1
Early online date	16 Nov 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13178
Publication status	Early online date - 16 Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
JWED, JTAD and EB conceived the study, with JWED conducting the experiments, with assistance from GTS. JWED and RNC conducted statistical analyses, with JWED, RNC and JTAD preparing the initial manuscript. All authors provided valuable input to the development of the final manuscript and have given approval for publication. JWED was supported by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), RNC by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and EB by the Alexander von Humboldt Sofja Kovalevskaja Award.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

functional response
invasive non-native species
life history traits
Pontogammarus maeoticus
relative impact potential
sea freshening

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1111/ddi.13178Licence: CC BY

Sea freshening may drive the ecological impacts of emerging and existing invasive non-native species
© 2020 The Authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 621 KBLicence: CC BY

Invasive species: fundamental and applied science
Dickey, J. (Author), Dick, J. (Supervisor) & Reid, N. (Supervisor), Jul 2021
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

File

Cite this

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abstract = "Aim: The spread of invasive non-native species (INNS) will pose major threats to global biodiversity over the coming decades. However, predicting how key effects of climate change will influence the abilities of INNS to establish and exert ecological impact is a major challenge. One overlooked aspect of global change is the expected freshening of certain marine systems, which may interact with INNS and lead to drastic effects on community structure and stability. Location: Baltic Sea, Europe. Methods: Here, using three predatory amphipod crustaceans, we experimentally assessed how salinity reduction may affect the impacts of the emerging INNS, Pontogammarus maeoticus, relative to an existing INNS, Gammarus tigrinus and a trophically analogous native, Gammarus salinus. We quantified per capita impacts of the three species via the comparative functional response method (prey consumption over a range of prey densities) under a predicted seawater freshening scenario. We then combined amphipod functional responses with their life history traits to compare population-level relative impact potential (RIP) on prey of the three amphipod species across salinities. Results: Freshening substantially altered the predicted relative ecological impacts of both the INNS compared with the native. First, the functional responses of invasive P. maeoticus and G. tigrinus increased under freshening, while that of the native G. salinus decreased. Second, RIP became consistently higher for both the INNS compared to the native with increased freshening. Main conclusions: Our methods thus reveal potential for climate change via seawater freshening to drive large shifts in dominance and ecological impacts of INNS compared with natives. With the number of INNS introductions unlikely to saturate in the near future, we highlight the need to assess the impacts of potential future INNS, alongside established non-natives and native species, in combination with abiotic changes associated with climate change.",

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author = "Dickey, {James W.E.} and Cuthbert, {Ross N.} and Steffen, {Gregor T.} and Dick, {Jaimie T.A.} and Elizabeta Briski",

note = "Funding Information: JWED, JTAD and EB conceived the study, with JWED conducting the experiments, with assistance from GTS. JWED and RNC conducted statistical analyses, with JWED, RNC and JTAD preparing the initial manuscript. All authors provided valuable input to the development of the final manuscript and have given approval for publication. JWED was supported by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), RNC by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and EB by the Alexander von Humboldt Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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doi = "10.1111/ddi.13178",

language = "English",

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pages = "144--156",

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AU - Dickey, James W.E.

AU - Cuthbert, Ross N.

AU - Steffen, Gregor T.

AU - Dick, Jaimie T.A.

AU - Briski, Elizabeta

N1 - Funding Information: JWED, JTAD and EB conceived the study, with JWED conducting the experiments, with assistance from GTS. JWED and RNC conducted statistical analyses, with JWED, RNC and JTAD preparing the initial manuscript. All authors provided valuable input to the development of the final manuscript and have given approval for publication. JWED was supported by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), RNC by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and EB by the Alexander von Humboldt Sofja Kovalevskaja Award. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Diversity and Distributions published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/11/16

Y1 - 2020/11/16

N2 - Aim: The spread of invasive non-native species (INNS) will pose major threats to global biodiversity over the coming decades. However, predicting how key effects of climate change will influence the abilities of INNS to establish and exert ecological impact is a major challenge. One overlooked aspect of global change is the expected freshening of certain marine systems, which may interact with INNS and lead to drastic effects on community structure and stability. Location: Baltic Sea, Europe. Methods: Here, using three predatory amphipod crustaceans, we experimentally assessed how salinity reduction may affect the impacts of the emerging INNS, Pontogammarus maeoticus, relative to an existing INNS, Gammarus tigrinus and a trophically analogous native, Gammarus salinus. We quantified per capita impacts of the three species via the comparative functional response method (prey consumption over a range of prey densities) under a predicted seawater freshening scenario. We then combined amphipod functional responses with their life history traits to compare population-level relative impact potential (RIP) on prey of the three amphipod species across salinities. Results: Freshening substantially altered the predicted relative ecological impacts of both the INNS compared with the native. First, the functional responses of invasive P. maeoticus and G. tigrinus increased under freshening, while that of the native G. salinus decreased. Second, RIP became consistently higher for both the INNS compared to the native with increased freshening. Main conclusions: Our methods thus reveal potential for climate change via seawater freshening to drive large shifts in dominance and ecological impacts of INNS compared with natives. With the number of INNS introductions unlikely to saturate in the near future, we highlight the need to assess the impacts of potential future INNS, alongside established non-natives and native species, in combination with abiotic changes associated with climate change.

AB - Aim: The spread of invasive non-native species (INNS) will pose major threats to global biodiversity over the coming decades. However, predicting how key effects of climate change will influence the abilities of INNS to establish and exert ecological impact is a major challenge. One overlooked aspect of global change is the expected freshening of certain marine systems, which may interact with INNS and lead to drastic effects on community structure and stability. Location: Baltic Sea, Europe. Methods: Here, using three predatory amphipod crustaceans, we experimentally assessed how salinity reduction may affect the impacts of the emerging INNS, Pontogammarus maeoticus, relative to an existing INNS, Gammarus tigrinus and a trophically analogous native, Gammarus salinus. We quantified per capita impacts of the three species via the comparative functional response method (prey consumption over a range of prey densities) under a predicted seawater freshening scenario. We then combined amphipod functional responses with their life history traits to compare population-level relative impact potential (RIP) on prey of the three amphipod species across salinities. Results: Freshening substantially altered the predicted relative ecological impacts of both the INNS compared with the native. First, the functional responses of invasive P. maeoticus and G. tigrinus increased under freshening, while that of the native G. salinus decreased. Second, RIP became consistently higher for both the INNS compared to the native with increased freshening. Main conclusions: Our methods thus reveal potential for climate change via seawater freshening to drive large shifts in dominance and ecological impacts of INNS compared with natives. With the number of INNS introductions unlikely to saturate in the near future, we highlight the need to assess the impacts of potential future INNS, alongside established non-natives and native species, in combination with abiotic changes associated with climate change.

KW - functional response

KW - invasive non-native species

KW - life history traits

KW - Pontogammarus maeoticus

KW - relative impact potential

KW - sea freshening

U2 - 10.1111/ddi.13178

DO - 10.1111/ddi.13178

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85096637543

SN - 1366-9516

VL - 27

SP - 144

EP - 156

JO - Diversity and Distributions

JF - Diversity and Distributions

IS - 1

ER -

Sea freshening may drive the ecological impacts of emerging and existing invasive non-native species

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Student theses

Invasive species: fundamental and applied science

Cite this