Distribution and dispersal capacity of the Ponto-Caspian tubificid oligochaete Potamothrix moldaviensis Vejdovský et Mrázek, 1903 in the Baltic Sea Region

Abstract

Over the last few centuries, several Ponto-Caspian tubificid oligochaetes have gradually dispersed from the Black Sea - Caspian Sea region to the north-west and west over Europe. The present world distribution comprising also the Great Lakes of North America clearly demonstrates that anthropochorous vectors of dispersal are involved. Passive transportation in the ballast water of ships has radically changed the possibilities of dispersal for many invertebrate species and has even made dispersal between continents possible. The construction of navigable canals has furthermore facilitated the crossing of watersheds and continents. Other likely vectors of longway dispersal for oligochaetes, as well as for other small-size aquatic invertebrates, are birds and mammals. The dispersal of the Potamothrix species is likely to have taken place in successive waves (three) with front-lines still on the move from the east to the west over the Baltic States and Scandinavia. The rheophilous species Potamothrix moldaviensis has presently reached — apart from the large rivers of Russia and many Central-European water bodies — also the Baltic States and south-eastern Sweden. Trajectories of dispersal demonstrate routes across the Baltic Sea — via the ballast water of ships. In the largest rivers of the Eastern Baltic Region (Neva, Daugava, Nemunas), downstream dispersal is the most likely way of transportation. P. moldaviensis together with P. heuscheri (second wave) and P. vejdovskyi (third wave) are presently forming front-lines running obliquely from the north-east to the south-west over south Sweden. In mesotrophic-eutrophic basins of eastern Lake Malaren, the abundance as well as the species diversity of oligochaetes is particularly high wherever Ponto-Caspian Potamothrix species — often several species together — are involved.