Abundance and composition of invertebrate-feeding leeches in relation to fish status in ponds

Abstract

Leeches feeding on invertebrates are an important component of freshwater communities, including those dominated by fish, but the effects of fish on their abundance and distribution are not well explored. The relative densities and assemblage structure of two leech families, Erpobdellidae and Glossiphoniidae, were studied from May to August 2014 in ponds stocked with low biomass densities of young common carp Cyprinus carpio, too small to prey on leeches (low-fish ponds), and in ponds containing high biomass densities of large (one- or two-year-old) carp (high-fish ponds), using two types of activity traps (placed either on the bottom or near the water surface). The most common and numerous species were Erpobdella octoculata, Helobdella stagnalis, and Erpobdella nigricollis. The traps near the water surface captured relatively small numbers of leeches, yet the catches showed that in summer some of the leeches moved to the upper layers of the water column, which was free of macrophytes. No differences in leech species richness or diversity were found with respect to fish status of ponds; however, bottom erpobdellids were more abundant in high-fish ponds. Redundancy analysis identified the fish status of the ponds and total nitrogen concentration in water as the only significant variables explaining the distribution of leeches among ponds. Species distribution was nested, but the nestedness pattern was not affected by the fish status of the pond. While fish are generally believed to adversely affect macroinvertebrate diversity and abundance, our study shows that some predatory leech species can persist in the presence of fish and possibly indirectly benefit from it.