Parasites of non-native freshwater fishes introduced into england and wales suggest enemy release and parasite acquisition
Authors: Sheath, D.J., Williams, C.F., Reading, A.J. and Robert Britton, J.
Journal: Biological Invasions
Volume: 17
Issue: 8
Pages: 2235-2246
eISSN: 1573-1464
ISSN: 1387-3547
DOI: 10.1007/s10530-015-0857-8
Abstract:When non-native species are introduced into a new range, their parasites can also be introduced, with these potentially spilling-over into native hosts. However, in general, evidence suggests that a high proportion of their native parasites are lost during introduction and infections by some new parasites from the native range might occur, potentially resulting in parasite spill-back to native species. These processes were investigated here using parasite surveys and literature review on seven non-native freshwater fishes introduced into England and Wales. Comparison of the mean numbers of parasite species and genera per population for each fish species England andWaleswith their native ranges revealed\9 % of the native parasite fauna were present in their populations in England and Wales. There was no evidence suggesting these introduced parasites had spilled over into sympatric native fishes. The non-native fishes did acquire parasites following their introduction, providing potential for parasite spill-back to sympatric fishes, and resulted in non-significant differences in overall mean numbers of parasites per populations between the two ranges. Through this acquisition, the non-native fishes also had mean numbers of parasite species and genera per population that were not significantly different to sympatric native fishes. Thus, the non-native fishes in England and Wales showed evidence of enemy release, acquired new parasites following introduction providing potential for spill-back, but showed no evidence of parasite spill-over.
Source: Scopus