The scientific literature on Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker 1857) from 1982 to 2012.

Fabiana G Barbosa

doi:10.1590/0001-3765201420130281

Abstract

Limnoperna fortunei (golden mussel) is a freshwater bivalve native to Southeast Asia, but is becoming an invasive species in several aquatic ecosystems in the world. In this study, a scientometric analysis was performed to identify the patterns, trends and gaps of knowledge for this invasive species. A survey of the published literature was conducted using the database of the Thomson Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). A total of 107 papers were surveyed that were published between 1982 and 2012 in 60 journals. The number of papers on L. fortunei over the years has increased, especially within the last eight years of the study period. Argentina, Brazil, and Japan are the countries that contributed the most papers to the literature on invasive bivalve. The majority of papers were field-observational studies. Among some important gaps that need to be addressed are the relatively small number and/or lack of studies conducted in the native countries and in countries invaded by L. fortunei, the lack of internationally collaborative publications in these countries, as well as a low number of internationally collaborative studies.

Highlights

Invasive species are recognized as a major threat to biodiversity (Clavero and GarciaBerthou 2005), and to economic development (Pimentel et al 2001, Pejchar and Mooney 2009)
The number of inter-institutional collaborations was higher than that of single institute publications (t = -2.8613, P = 0.0099, N = 20). This scientometric study showed an increase in the number of papers on L. fortunei over time, especially in the eight years from 2005–2012, probably due to increasing interest in invasive species in recent decades (Lowry et al 2013)
The serious ecological and economic impact caused by the species (Boltovskoy et al 2006, Karatayev et al 2007a) has certainly contributed to the growth of studies, because, according to Pysek et al (2008), the impact of an invasive species determines whether it is studied

Summary

Introduction

Invasive species are recognized as a major threat to biodiversity (Clavero and GarciaBerthou 2005), and to economic development (Pimentel et al 2001, Pejchar and Mooney 2009). The distribution of L. fortunei in South America includes estuaries (Darrigran and Pastorino 1995, Brugnoli et al 2005, Capítoli et al 2008), lakes, streams, reservoirs, and rivers (Mansur et al 2003, Oliveira et al 2006, Boltovskoy et al 2009) and it can be found in five countries: Argentina (in 1991), Uruguay (in 1994), Paraguay (in 1997), Brazil and Bolivia (in 1998) (Darrigran and Mansur 2006, 2009) This invasive bivalve has caused serious environmental damage (see Karatayev et al 2007a to review), as well as having a negative economic impact in South America (Darrigran and Damborenea 2005, Boltovskoy et al 2006) and Japan (Magara et al 2001, Matsui et al 2002)

Methods

Results

Conclusion