Abstract
The ‘killer shrimp’, Dikerogammarus villosus, has been recognised as one of the 100 worst alien species in Europe, in terms of negative impacts on the biodiversity and functioning of invaded ecosystems. During the last twenty years, this Ponto-Caspian amphipod crustacean has rapidly spread throughout Europe’s freshwaters and its invasion and continued range expansion represents a major conservation management problem. Although a great deal of research has focussed on this almost ‘perfect’ invader as its damaging impacts, realised and potential, have become evident, we now present the first comprehensive review of D. villosus taxonomy, morphology, distribution, community impacts, parasites, life history, physiological tolerance and finally, possible eradication methods. We show the direct and indirect ecosystem impacts of this invader can be profound, as it is a top predator, capable of engaging in a diverse array of other feeding modes. It can quickly dominate resident macroinvertebrate communities in terms of numbers and biomass, with subsequent large-scale reductions in local biodiversity and potentially altering energy cycling, such as leaf litter processing. This damaging European invader has the potential to become a key invader on a global scale as it may be capable of reaching North American freshwaters, such as the Great Lakes. One positive aspect of this invader’s spread and impact is increased interest in alien species research generally, from decision-makers, stakeholders and the general public. This has resulted in greater financial support to study invasion mechanisms, preventative measures to stop invasion spread and ways to minimise damaging impacts. Our review provides a specific example, that studies identifying management strategies that mitigate against a potential invader’s spread should be undertaken at the earliest possible opportunity in order to minimise potentially irreversible ecosystem damage and biodiversity loss.
Highlights
Alien species represent a major threat to conservation management on both a continental and global scale (Leppäkoski et al 2002; Chandra and Gerhadt 2008; Richardson and Ricciardi 2013)
If D. villosus spread follows the pattern of many other aquatic invaders, its range could expand beyond Europe to eventually reach North American freshwaters, such as the Great Lakes, as has previously happened with the zebra (Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771)) and quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (Andrusov, 1897)), as well as another amphipod, Echinogammarus ischnus (Stebbing, 1899) (Ricciardi and MacIsaac 2000)
Taking into account the ever increasing amount of research that the scientific community has focussed on the killer shrimp, we conducted the first comprehensive review of the literature, including searching the Scopus database with the keywords Dikerogammarus villosus and ‘killer shrimp’, as well as sourcing unpublished reports and local Russian literature
Summary
Alien species represent a major threat to conservation management on both a continental and global scale (Leppäkoski et al 2002; Chandra and Gerhadt 2008; Richardson and Ricciardi 2013). The ‘killer shrimp’, Dikerogammarus villosus (Sowinsky, 1894), is a euryoecious amphipod crustacean of Ponto-Caspian origin, regarded as one of the worst one hundred invasive species in Europe (DAISIE 2009) It is a highly voracious, physiologically tolerant and adaptable species, threatening freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning on various levels (Bollache et al 2008; MacNeil et al 2010; Piscart et al 2010). Within two decades, it has succeeded in colonising most of the major European inland waterways replacing many resident amphipod ‘shrimp’ species, including previously successful invaders (Bij de Vaate et al 2002; Bollache et al 2004; Grabowski et al 2007c; Bącela et al 2008). We aim to both summarise and critically evaluate all the major published studies dealing with this species, its invasion history, ecology, interaction with local communities, its invasion potential and issues of control and eradication (Figure 1)
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