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The invasion of an alien characiform fish and the decline of a native congener in a Neotropical river-floodplain system

  • INVASIVE SPECIES III
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Abstract

Using a long time series, we analyzed trends in abundance of two characiform fishes in the upper Paraná River and its floodplain: the native Schizodon altoparanae and its alien congener Schizodon borellii, which invaded the floodplain in the last decades. We aimed to contribute to the understanding of the invasive species success and its relationship with its native congener. We compared feeding-related morphology, reproductive investment, and spatial and temporal variations in abundance, searching for possible negative interactions between them. S. altoparanae presented a marked abundance decline between 1986 and 2018, varying with river systems and habitats, but also depending significantly on the abundance of the alien. The native was more abundant in rivers and channels, whereas S. borellii thrived in all habitats, but particularly in channels. Moreover, the alien species, when compared to S. altoparanae, presented relatively larger head depths and mouth gape, and higher values of relative gonadal weight for smaller females. Overall, our results suggest a more generalist habitat use, greater investment in reproduction at small sizes, and larger mouth gape for the invader, which might provide competitive advantages. Although multiple disturbances impact the floodplain, our results suggest that competitive interactions may have contributed to the decline of the native S. altoparanae.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank: the Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura (Nupélia) of the Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM) for providing the samples and logistical support; projects Pesquisas Ecológicas de Longa Duração (PELD), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) and Programa de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico e Ciências Ambientais (PADCT/CIAMB) for funding and further data; and the GRECO group of the University of Girona for providing support during a research stay of MJGM and CMM. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) granted a scholarship to MJMG. EGB was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science (projects PID2019-103936 GB-C21 and RED2018-102571-T) and the Government of Catalonia (ref. 2017 SGR 548). We also thank Harumi Irene Suzuki for help in the conception of this work and the editor Fernando M. Pelicice and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Núcleo de Pesquisa em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Laboratório de Ictiologia, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5.790, Bloco G-90, CEP 87020-900, Maringá, PR, Brazil

    Maria Julia Mileo Ganassin, Amanda Cantarute Rodrigues, Carolina Pedrozo do Nascimento, Carolina Mendes Muniz, Matheus Tenório Baumgartner, Marcelo Henrique Schmitz & Luiz Carlos Gomes

  2. Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura, Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Paraná, Brazil

    Luiz Carlos Gomes

  3. GRECO, Institute of Aquatic Ecology, University of Girona, 17003, Girona, Catalonia, Spain

    Maria Julia Mileo Ganassin, Emili García-Berthou & Carolina Mendes Muniz

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  1. Maria Julia Mileo Ganassin
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  2. Emili García-Berthou
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  3. Amanda Cantarute Rodrigues
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Correspondence to Maria Julia Mileo Ganassin.

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Ganassin, M.J.M., García-Berthou, E., Rodrigues, A.C. et al. The invasion of an alien characiform fish and the decline of a native congener in a Neotropical river-floodplain system. Hydrobiologia 848, 2189–2201 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04454-0

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