Russian Journal of Biological Invasions

2010, issue № 4

CONTENTS

Invasive plant species distribution un the Upper Volga basin - Borisova E.A. - The peculiarities of invasive plant species distribution in the Upper Volga basin territory (including 5 administrative regions – Invanovskaya, Kostromskaya, Vladimirskaya, Yaroslavskaya and Tverskaya ones) are considered. The present flora of this district comprises 770 alien species, among them 135 are successfully naturalized in natural and semi-natural communities and 32 (4.2%) are invasive plants. Only 24 invasive species (3.1%) are widespread in all Upper Volga regions, which is in concordance with a hypothetical model of invasion intensity of Di Castri. The majority (e.g. Bidens frondosa, Elodea сanadensis, Epilobium adenocaulon, Juncus tenuis, Impatiens glandulifera) have invaded water bodies and riparian communities. Some species (e.g. Acer negundo, Amelanscier spicata, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Sambucus racemosa) are commonly recorded in different types of forest and shrub ecosystems; other – in grassland. Echinocystis lobata, Heracleum sosnowskyi, Hippophae rhamnoides, Impatiens parviflora are most aggressive and play a role of transformer. The examples of local invasions are described. A potential invasive group comprises 26 alien species, which compete successfully with native species and tend to invade plant communities (e.g. Сrataegus monogyna, Populus balsamifera, Parthenocissus inserta, Reynoutria japonica).

Long-term changes of Vallisneria spiralis L. population in the Cooling Reservoir of Belovskaya Power Plant (southwest Siberia) - Zarubina E.Y., Sokolova M.I. - The paper presents the data on the long-term changes of the population of Vallisneria spiralis L. in the Cooling Reservoir of the Belovskaya Power Plant. For the 45-year period of the reservoir operation Vallisneria spiralis L. expansion was observed in the areas of maximal water heating and in some sites of moderate one. This period clearly demonstrates Vallisneria spiralis L. biomass augmentation in phytocenoses.

Large-scale invasion of Marenzelleria spp. (Polychaeta, Spyonidae) in the Eastern Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea) - Maximov A.A. - The polychaetes of the genus Marenzelleria are one of the most successful invaders in the Baltic Sea. These polychaetes appeared firstly in 1985 and colonized quickly the entire Baltic Sea, where they are presented now by three sibling species. In the Russian waters of the Gulf of Finland Marenzelleria were known from 1996. Up to 2009 introduction of polychaetes (identified as Marenzelleria neglecta) in the Gulf did not cause the pronounced changes in the bottom communities. High biomass of M. neglecta was observed in the confined shallow above-termocline areas only. By 2009, polychaetes occupied deep-water areas that connected with invasion of arctic member of the genus – Marenzelleria arctia. The species mass development led to the multiple increase of macrozoobenthos biomass. The role of polychaetes was especially significant in the hypoxia-affected zones where macrozoobenthos was very poor or absent before invasion. As a result of invasion, the most part of the gulf area was inhabited practically by monoculture of polychaetes. M. arctia are characterized by significant bioturbation and bioirrigation activities and their introduction led to appearance of new functional benthic group in the deep areas of the gulf. Apparently, the polychaetes invasion, because of its considerable impact on biogeochemical processes and trophic interactions, will result in fundamental alteration at ecosystem-level scale.

Long-term dynamics of biomass of Hediste diversicolor Muller and Abra ovata (Philippi) in the North Caspian Sea - Malinovskaya L.V., Zinchenko T.D. - The analyzis of the study results on biomass dynamics and distribution of the species-invaders, polychaete Hediste diversicolor and mollusc Abra ovata (Philippi), in the Eastern and Western parts of the North Caspian Sea during the sea transgression (1978–2007) is given. The maps of colonizers' distribution in various according to water level years are shown.

Phytoplankton of ballast waters of the ships in the port Vladivostok - Morozova T.V., Selina M.S., Stonik I.V., Shevchenko O.G., Zvyagintsev A.Yu. - The first results on the quantitative and qualitative composition of phytoplankton from the ballast waters of the tanker "Minotaur", which plies on the Russian-Chinese line between port Vladivostok (the Sea of Japan) and Longkou and Laizhou ports (the Yellow Sea), are presented. During the period since October 2007 till December 2009 in total 157 species of microalgae belonging to 6 divisions were discovered. The number of phytoplankton species in the samples reached 45, and concentration – 213318 cell/l. Within the period of study 10 species are known as potentially toxic and 5 new species for the Peter the Great Bay were found: diatoms Cyclotella litoralis, Eucampia zodiacus f. cylindrocornis, Lioloma pacificum and Stephanopyxis palmeriana and dinoflagellate Prorocentrum cf. rhathymum.

On the problem of development and maintenance of the regional Black books - Notov A.A., Vinogradova Yu.K., Mayorov S.R. - The comparative analysis of invasive component for several regional floras within European territory of Russia is carried out. Regional specifics of alien floral components caused by climatic differences and local traditions of cultivation are described. The trends of changes of florogenetic and invasive statuses are revealed for a number of alien species. The main tasks of the combined multi-discipline programme of alien floral components' studies together with recommendations for regional Black books' compilations are formulated.

Infection of Perccottus glenii Dybowski, 1977 (Odontobutidae, Pisces) by parasite Nippotaenia mogurndae Yamaguti et Miyata, 1940 (Nippotaeniidae, Cestoda) through cannibalism - Reshetnikov A.N., Protasova E.N., Sokolov S.G., Pelgunov A.N., Voropaeva E.L. - Specific parasite cestode Nippotaenia mogurndae can be found in both small and large individuals of the introduced fish Perccottus glenii. This phenomenon is difficult to explain because the fishes are infected by swallowing plankton crustaceans (copepods). Copepods are consumed by small P. glenii whereas a large fish of this species feeds on bigger prey. The period of life of N. mogurndae in P. glenii intestine is limited; therefore accumulation of the parasite is impossible. We tested the hypothesis that N. mogurndae infection of large P. glenii could occur by cannibalism. Large P. glenii (collected in water body without N. mogurndae) consumed small P. glenii (collected in water body with N. mogurndae). After 5 days, these fish were examined and N. mogurndae was detected in their intestines. Thus, big P. glenii can be infected by cestode N. mogurndae through cannibalism.

Scales, directions and rates of alien fish invasions in the basins of the largest rivers of the Ponto-Caspian region. The review - Slynko Yu.V., Dgebuadze Yu.Yu., Novitskiy R.A., Kchristov O.A. - The review of occurrence and naturalization of alien species of fishes in the basins of the largest rivers of the Ponto-Caspian drain (Dnepr, Don, and Volga) is given. For the last 50 years in the basins of these rivers more than 50 new species of fishes have appeared, from which about 25 ones can be recognized as naturalized. Classification of species-invaders according to ecological, taxonomical and life history categories has been carried out. The basic vectors of invasion are described. The doubtless prevalence in number of species is seen for the southern invaders among which the domination of Ponto-Caspian species is noted. It is established that the greatest ecological success belongs to inherent in autoexpansion species. Dynamics of establishing of new species in native ecosystems is analyzed. It is established that invasion process in river basins under study is accelerated both by quantity of occurrence of new species and the speed of naturalization.

The new species of phytoplankton in the north-eastern part of the Black Sea - Yasakova O.N. - Among the species of phytoplankton of the north-eastern Black Sea the new for this region species of Bacillariophyta (Asterionellopsis glacialis (Castr.) Round., Lioloma pacificum (Capp) Hasle), Dinophyta (Dinophysis odiosa (Pavillard) Tai & Scogsberg., Alexandrium ostenfeldii (Pauls.) Balech et Tangen, Oxytoxum variabile Schill., Gymnodinium stellаtum Hulburt), and Chrysophyta (Phaeocystis pouchetii (Hariot) Lagerheim) were registered during 2004–2009. These species of the phytoplankton were previously found exclusively in the northern-western part of the Black Sea and in Bosphorus region. It was supposed that they were introduced with the ballast waters of commercial ships.