Water turbidity increases biotic resistance of native Neotropical piscivores to alien fish

Large tropical rivers are increasingly affected by dam construction, which generally implies alteration of flow regimes, increased water transparency, decline of native species and proliferation of invasive alien species. The potential of native Neotropical piscivores to provide biotic resistance to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrobiologia 2018-07, Vol.817 (1), p.293-305
Main Authors: Santos, Alejandra F. G. N., García-Berthou, Emili, Hayashi, Carmino, Santos, Luciano N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Construction
Dam construction
Ecology
Fish
Fishes
Flow alteration
Freshwater
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Indigenous species
Inland water environment
Interactions
Interspecific relationships
Introduced species
Invasive species
Invasive Species II
Life Sciences
Mesocosms
Native organisms
Piscivores
Predation
Predator-prey interactions
Predators
Prey
Proliferation
Rivers
Survival
Tanks
Transparency (optical)
Tropical climate
Turbidity
Vulnerability
Water resistance
Water transparency
Zoology
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Summary:Large tropical rivers are increasingly affected by dam construction, which generally implies alteration of flow regimes, increased water transparency, decline of native species and proliferation of invasive alien species. The potential of native Neotropical piscivores to provide biotic resistance to alien fish invaders and its interaction with water turbidity was investigated through mesocosm experiments. Three invasive and two native fish species were offered as prey to three native piscivores of the Paraná river in 1000 L tanks. After 48 h, prey survival was compared among trials with and without the piscivores and in turbid (~ more preserved systems) versus clear water (~ disturbed systems by damming) treatments. Prey survival, particularly of the invasive species, was significantly lower in turbid water in the presence of predators (~ 45.9% versus ~ 53.7% in clear water). Piscivores preyed more on smaller individuals in clear water and on larger preys in turbid water. Although vulnerability to predation was prey-specific, our results support the potential of native piscivores to provide biotic resistance against alien freshwater species. Water turbidity mediated the predator–prey interactions and our results confirm the hypothesis that decreased turbidity caused by dams’ construction can affect predation efficiency of native piscivores and increase the abundance of alien fish.
ISSN:0018-8158
1573-5117
DOI:10.1007/s10750-018-3548-5