Diet of non-native pikeperch Sander lucioperca (Linnaeus, 1758) in Portugal: a first perspective on Tejo basin dietary patterns

• Autor(a) principal: Ribeiro, D.R.
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Gago, João, Gkenas, C., Ferreira, M., Gabriel, S., Ribeiro, F.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.15/4791
• topic: Sander lucioperca; invasive species; dietary pattern

The introduction rate of new species is expanding worldwide, being a major driver of biodiversity loss and biotic homogenisation (Strayer & Dudgeon 2010). Such phenomenon is particularly serious in Mediterranean regions (Anastácio et al. 2019) with the modification of habitats (construction of dams and barriers) associated with the establishment of non-native fish (hereafter NNF) (Radinger et al. 2019). The spread of these species promotes a cascade effect disrupting the food webs and ecosystems (Baxter et al. 2004, Clavero et al. 2013). Iberia is a bio-invasion hotspot for freshwater fish introductions containing nearly 30% of NNF relative to total number of present fish species (Leprieur et al. 2008, Leunda 2010). For instance, Portuguese freshwaters contain 20 NNF of a total of 64 fish species, and nearly half of these non-natives have arrived in the last 2 decades (1 new NNF/2 years) (Anastácio et al. 2019). Some of recent NNF are top predators with potential high impact to fish communities and aquatic food webs (Ribeiro & Leunda 2012). The pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) arrived to mainland Portugal in 1997, being firstly reported in Ermal reservoir (Ave basin, NW Portugal) (Barros et al. 1998). In less than a decade, it was spread across mainland Portugal, reaching the Guadiana basin in 2005 (Ribeiro et al. 2009a, b). Only one study has addressed the pikeperch diet in Iberian freshwaters (Perez-Bote & Roso 2012), being important to evaluate its predation pressure in different habitats (lotic and lentic) within its invaded range. Here it is described the diet of pikeperch in Tejo basin and how the diet competition varies between different habitats.