Reservoirs May Accelerate Spread of Invasive Species
Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 03:00 CDT
Just as disturbed native landscapes are more susceptible to invasion by alien plant species, reservoir construction around the globe may be accelerating the spread of exotic aquatic species, according to an article in the June issue of BioScience. In the article, John A. Havel, a researcher at Southwest Missouri State University (Springfield), and Carol Eunmi Lee and M. Jake Vander Zanden, researchers at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), survey evidence indicating that reservoirs are more susceptible to invasion by alien species than natural lakes.
New reservoirs often dramatically increase the area of standing water in a region, the researchers note, and they typically replace varied stream habitats with more uniform ones. Furthermore, the reservoirs tend to be shallower than natural lakes, are frequently linked to other waterbodies, are more laden with suspended and dissolved solids, and have a higher, more variable flushing rate. Moreover, they typically contain unstable, recently assembled communities of stocked fish. The fluctuating-resource-availability hypothesis suggests that these characteristics will enhance the susceptibility of reservoirs to invasion, the authors say. Also, because reservoirs are more saline than freshwater lakes, the authors suggest that they could help invaders from saline and brackish habitats adapt to fresh water.
Alien invasion? Reservoirs may present a uniquely hospitable environment for exotic species.
Several invasive species, including Daphnia lumholtzi, a water flea from the Old World tropics, and Eurytemora affinis, a copepod, are suspected to proliferate in reservoirs. Evidence indicates that reservoirs also may have helped zebra mussels spread.
To determine whether the rate in reservoirs is indeed higher, the authors argue for research aimed at comparing rates of invasion in freshwater lakes and reservoirs in similar geographic regions. For more information, contact Havel at jeh694f@smsu.edu.
Copyright Water Environment Federation Sep 2005
Source: Water Environment & Technology
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