Predation on invasive zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha , by pumpkinseed sunfish, rusty crayfish, and round goby
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PRIMARY RESEARCH PAPER
Predation on invasive zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, by pumpkinseed sunfish, rusty crayfish, and round goby Rahmat Naddafi • Lars G. Rudstam
Received: 7 April 2013 / Revised: 22 July 2013 / Accepted: 3 August 2013 / Published online: 20 August 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract The enemy release hypothesis states that invasive species are successful in their new environment because native species are not adapted to utilize the invasive. If true for predators, native predators should have lower feeding rates on the invasive species than a predator from the native range of the invasive species. We tested this hypothesis for zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) by comparing handling time and predation rate on zebra mussels in the laboratory by two North American species (pumpkinseed, Lepomis gibbosus, and rusty crayfish, Orconectes rusticus) and one predator with a long evolutionary history with zebra mussels (round goby, Neogobius melanostomus). Handling time per mussel (7 mm shell length) ranged from 25 to [70 s for the three predator species. Feeding rates on attached zebra mussels were higher for round goby than the two native predators. Medium and large gobies consumed
Handling editor: John Havel R. Naddafi (&) Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 901 83 Umea˚, Sweden e-mail: [email protected] L. G. Rudstam Cornell Biological Field Station, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Bridgeport, NY 13030, USA e-mail: [email protected]
50–67 zebra mussels attached to stones in 24 h, whereas pumpkinseed and rusty crayfish consumed \11. This supports the hypothesis that the rapid spread of zebra mussels in North America was facilitated by low predation rates from the existing native predators. At these predation rates and realistic goby abundance estimates, round goby could affect zebra mussel abundance in some lakes. Keywords Enemy release hypothesis Native predator Co-evolved predator Feeding behavior Handling time Zebra mussel
Introduction Anthropogenic introductions are of increasing concern worldwide, partly because they affect the function of the invaded ecosystem by creating novel interactions between native and alien prey and predator species (Cox, 2004). Understanding such important but understudied interactions can help invasion biologists make better predictions about the ability of exotic species to become dominant in the novel ecosystem. A majority of predictions regarding exotic species dominance are based on physical and chemical properties of the recipient environment (Havel et al., 2005; Naddafi et al., 2011), ecological niche modeling (Peterson & Vieglais, 2001), propagule pressure (Colautti et al., 2006), and the diversity of the native community (Kennedy et al., 2002) rather than biological interactions.
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Predation is a biological interaction that may affect the ability of exotic species to become invasive (Sakai et al., 2001; Simberloff &
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