A tough egg to crack: recreational boats as vectors for invasive goby eggs and transdisciplinary management approaches.

ABSTRACT: Non-native invasive species are a major threat to biodiversity, especially in freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater ecosystems are naturally rather isolated from one another. Nonetheless, invasive species often spread rapidly across water sheds. This spread is to a large extent realized by human activities that provide vectors. For example, recreational boats can carry invasive species propagules as "aquatic hitch-hikers" within and across water sheds. We used invasive gobies in Switzerland as a case study to test the plausibility that recreational boats can serve as vectors for invasive fish and that fish eggs can serve as propagules. We found that the peak season of boat movements across Switzerland and the goby spawning season overlap temporally. It is thus plausible that goby eggs attached

SUBMITTER: Hirsch PE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4739576 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature