Distribution of Some Ponto-Caspian and Alien Copepods (Crustacea, Copepoda) in Plankton of the Don River Basin

• Published in: Russian journal of biological invasions Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 462 - 479
• Main Author: Lazareva, V. I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-12-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Benthic fauna; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Calanipeda aquaedulcis; Canals; Developmental Biology; Dispersal; Ecology; Eurytemora; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Historical account; Introduced species; Invertebrates; Life Sciences; Plant Sciences; Population characteristics; Population studies; Reservoirs; River basins; Rivers; Shipping; Thermocyclops; Zooplankton; Don River; Don River basin; Ponto-Caspian species; distribution; population characteristics; alien species; abundance
• ISSN: 2075-1117; 2075-1125
• DOI: 10.1134/S207511172204004X

In 2018–2019, zooplankton was studied in the Don River (from the source to the mouth, including the Tsimlyansk Reservoir), Volga–Don Shipping Canal, and the upper section of the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov. The habitats of two Ponto-Caspian copepod species (
Heterocope caspia
and
Eurytemora caspica
) and three alien species (Mediterranean copepod
Calanipeda aquaedulcis
, representative of the neritic zone
Acartia
(
Acanthacartia
)
tonsa
, and East Asian euryhaline species
Thermocyclops taihokuensis
) were identified. For the first time,
T. taihokuensis
was recorded in the Don River upstream and downstream of the Tsimlyansk Reservoir and in water bodies of the Volga–Don Shipping Canal. It is established that the Ponto-Caspian species
Eurytemora caspica
inhabits the Don River basin and the Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov. The European copepod
E. affinis
previously recorded in the region was not found in the studied sections of the river basin. The Ponto-Caspian species and
Calanipeda aquaedulcis
featured the highest occurrence frequencies (>80% of samples). The recent invader
Thermocyclops taihokuensis
featured the highest abundance (>100 000 ind./m
3
). Using the Tsimlyansk Reservoir as an example, it is established that Ponto-Caspian and alien species could have invaded the Don River basin as a result of a large-scale introduction of planktonic and benthic invertebrates performed in the 1950s–1970s with the purpose to enhance the nutritive base of commercially valuable fish species. The paper discusses the dispersal history and population characteristics of the studied copepod species.