The Caspian-Volga-Baltic Invasion Corridor

Abstract

The north-south transfer of species in the Volga River basin is not new, but the scale and nature of invasions changed along the Volga-Baltic corridor following transformation of the Volga River from a riverine environment to one of a series of cascading reservoirs. Southward penetration of northern species was facilitated by the formation of a cold-water hypolimnion in the Volga reservoirs. Following reservoir impoundment, 106 invasive species have been found in the Volga River basin, a process that occurred over two different time periods. The first period of invasions occurred between 1940 and 1970, and involved many northern species (77% of total species) moving downstream by passive dispersal. The second period of invasions is still on going and involves invasions by many Ponto-Caspian species (51 % of total species) while new invasions by northern species has decreased substantially (7% of total species). The proportion of exotic species (i.e., invaders originating from basins not adjacent to the Volga basin) increased from 7% during the first period to 41% during the second period. Since the late 1970s, water temperatures in the Volga basin have continued to increase and it is postulated that many invasions during the second period are related to global climatic change.