Browsing by Subject "Biological invasions"

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    Open Access
    Outcomes of the LIFE INVASAQUA project: an integrated approach for the prevention and awareness of aquatic invasive species in the Iberian Peninsula
    (Pensoft Publishers, 2025-10-07) López Cañizares, Celia; Olivo del Amo, Rosa; Guillén Beltrán, Antonio; Torralva, Mar; Anastácio, Pedro; Banha, Filipe; Brandão, Pedro; Barca, Sandra; Cobo, Fernando; Vieira-Lanero, Rufino; Casals, Frederic; Sánchez-González, Jorge R.; Perdices, Anabel; Machordom, Annie; Miranda, Rafael; Oscoz, Javier; Numa, Catherine; Clavero-Sousa, Helena; Ribeiro, Filipe; Oficialdegui Aladren, Francisco Javier; Zamora Marín, José Manuel; Oliva Paterna, Francisco José; Zoología y Antropología Física
    Invasive alien species (IAS) pose a growing threat to biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being, particularly in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. These species lead to severe environmental and economic impacts by altering habitats, disrupting ecological processes and outcompeting native species. In the Iberian Peninsula, IAS represent a major risk to its unique freshwater and estuarine ecosystems, which are particularly vulnerable to biological invasions due to their connection to human activities and high number of endemic species. Awareness of IAS and their impacts among the general public and stakeholders in Spain and Portugal remains limited, hindering effective management strategies and policies. The LIFE INVASAQUA project (2018–2023), co-funded by the LIFE Programme of the European Commission (LIFE17 GIE/ES/000515), aimed to support management, communication and the dissemination of information on aquatic IAS in the Iberian Peninsula. To achieve this, diverse partners were involved, including universities, research institutions, an environmental news agency and NGOs. Key actions included the production of governance tools such as strategic recommendations and IAS priority lists and communication resources such as a traveling exhibition for the public and codes of conduct for stakeholders. The project delivered 98 training activities to over 2,900 participants and engaged more than 430 institutions and 246,000 people through 598 public events in Spain and Portugal. LIFE INVASAQUA significantly enhanced public awareness and transnational collaboration, evidenced by improved communication, increased social media engagement, and positive shifts in public perception, as revealed by 7,078 records of a survey based on a questionnaire on the Iberian public’s perspectives. These outcomes foster strengthened IAS management frameworks and support implementation of relevant European and national regulations. The project’s long-term efforts focus on developing and replicating actions with the greatest audience reach and the highest impact on public perception of IAS issues. Lessons learned include the importance of sustained public engagement, the need for continued stakeholder collaboration, and the effectiveness of integrating educational campaigns with policy enforcement for sustained success in IAS management.
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    Open Access
    Trophic consequences of introduced species: Comparative impacts of increased interspecific versus intraspecific competitive interactions
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2018) Britton, J. Robert; Ruiz Navarro, Ana; Verreycken, Hugo; Amat Trigo, Fátima; Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales
    1. Invasive species can cause substantial ecological impacts on native biodiversity. While ecological theory attempts to explain the processes involved in the trophic integration of invaders into native food webs and their competitive impacts on resident species, results are equivocal. In addition, quantifying the relative strength of impacts from non-native species (interspecific competition) versus the release of native conspecifics (intraspecific competition) is important but rarely completed. 2. Two model non-native fishes, the globally invasive Cyprinus carpio and Carassius auratus, and the model native fish Tinca tinca, were used in a pond experiment to test how increased intra- and interspecific competition influenced trophic niches and somatic growth rates. This was complemented by samples collected from three natural fish communities where the model fishes were present. The isotopic niche, calculated using stable isotope data, represented the trophic niche. 3. The pond experiment used additive and substitutive treatments to quantify the trophic niche variation that resulted from intra- and interspecific competitive interactions. Although the trophic niche sizes of the model species were not significantly altered by any competitive treatment, they all resulted in patterns of interspecific niche divergence. Increased interspecific competition caused the trophic niche of T. tinca to shift to a significantly higher trophic position, whereas intraspecific competition caused its position to shift towards elevated δ13C. These patterns were independent of impacts on fish growth rates, which were only significantly altered when interspecific competition was elevated. 4. In the natural fish communities, patterns of trophic niche partitioning between the model fishes was evident, with no niche sharing. Comparison of these results with those of the experiment revealed the most similar results between the two approaches were for the niche partitioning between sympatric T. tinca and C. carpio. 5. These results indicate that trophic niche divergence facilitates the integration of introduced species into food webs, but there are differences in how this manifests between introductions that increase inter- and intraspecific competition. In entirety, these results suggest that the initial ecological response to an introduction appears to be a trophic re-organisation of the food web that minimises the trophic interactions between competing species.