Abstract:The paper provides a list of the non-indigenous animal species occurring today in Italian inland waters. Xenodiversity was found to amount to 112 species (64 invertebrates and 48 vertebrates), which contribute for about 2% to the inland-water fauna in Italy. Northern and central regions are most affected, and Asia, North America, and the rest of Europe are the main donor continents. The large majority of non-indigenous species entered Italy as a direct or indirect effect of human intervention. A difference bet… Show more
“…This rather striking difference in haplotype diversity between sympatric A. anatina clades could indicate that the two European A. anatina haplotypes actually represent introductions into these Italian lakes, possibly in the larval stage through fish host stocking. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Lake Trasimeno and Lake Maggiore are rich in non-native fish species (Gherardi et al 2008;Volta and Jepsen 2008;Boggero et al 2016), originating mainly from Central Europe. Our observation that the Ebro?Italy mtDNA clade contains higher genetic diversity than the European clade, despite occupying a more restricted geographical area, supports the idea that Italy served as an important refugium during the Pleistocene glaciations, as has been documented for other taxa (e.g.…”
Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida have been dramatically declining globally. Despite their ecological importance, conservation of these animals has been hindered by unresolved taxonomy and a lack of data on the distribution and status of populations, especially in southern Europe. Although the Italian Peninsula has been noted as a centre of endemism and one of the major refugia of the glacial ages for several taxa, few studies have been performed on the genetic diversity of Unionida. Most importantly, the taxonomic status of several freshwater mussel populations of the Italian Peninsula is still unresolved. Here we present the first comprehensive dataset for the Unionida of the region spanning Italy and the coastal Croatian region (west of the Dinaric Alps). In total, Communicated by Robert Cowie.This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Coastal and marine biodiversity. (COI, 16S and 28S). Genetic analyses were performed to understand major phylogenetic and phylogeographic patterns. Seven species were detected: three Anodonta species (A. anatina, A. cygnea and A. exulcerata), two Unio species (U. mancus and U. elongatulus), Microcondylaea bonellii, and the invasive Sinanodonta woodiana. The presence of three endemic species (A. exulcerata, U. elongatulus and M. bonellii) confirms the importance of the region as a centre of endemism for freshwater mussels. The Apennine Mountains act as an important biogeographic barrier.
Electronic supplementary material
“…This rather striking difference in haplotype diversity between sympatric A. anatina clades could indicate that the two European A. anatina haplotypes actually represent introductions into these Italian lakes, possibly in the larval stage through fish host stocking. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that Lake Trasimeno and Lake Maggiore are rich in non-native fish species (Gherardi et al 2008;Volta and Jepsen 2008;Boggero et al 2016), originating mainly from Central Europe. Our observation that the Ebro?Italy mtDNA clade contains higher genetic diversity than the European clade, despite occupying a more restricted geographical area, supports the idea that Italy served as an important refugium during the Pleistocene glaciations, as has been documented for other taxa (e.g.…”
Freshwater mussels of the order Unionida have been dramatically declining globally. Despite their ecological importance, conservation of these animals has been hindered by unresolved taxonomy and a lack of data on the distribution and status of populations, especially in southern Europe. Although the Italian Peninsula has been noted as a centre of endemism and one of the major refugia of the glacial ages for several taxa, few studies have been performed on the genetic diversity of Unionida. Most importantly, the taxonomic status of several freshwater mussel populations of the Italian Peninsula is still unresolved. Here we present the first comprehensive dataset for the Unionida of the region spanning Italy and the coastal Croatian region (west of the Dinaric Alps). In total, Communicated by Robert Cowie.This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Coastal and marine biodiversity. (COI, 16S and 28S). Genetic analyses were performed to understand major phylogenetic and phylogeographic patterns. Seven species were detected: three Anodonta species (A. anatina, A. cygnea and A. exulcerata), two Unio species (U. mancus and U. elongatulus), Microcondylaea bonellii, and the invasive Sinanodonta woodiana. The presence of three endemic species (A. exulcerata, U. elongatulus and M. bonellii) confirms the importance of the region as a centre of endemism for freshwater mussels. The Apennine Mountains act as an important biogeographic barrier.
Electronic supplementary material
“…Many human activities, such as agriculture, aquaculture, recreation and transportation, are the cause of intentional or accidental spread of species away from their natural ranges of distribution (Gherardi et al 2008). Although most new species fail to establish viable populations, those that persist can threaten native biodiversity and ecosystem functionality, and may have detrimental effects on human health as well as economic impacts (Kolar and Lodge 2001).…”
Biological invasions are regarded as a form of global change and potential cause of biodiversity loss. Xenopus laevis is an anuran amphibian native to sub-Saharan Africa with strong invasive capacity, especially in geographic regions with a Mediterranean climate. In spite of the worldwide diffusion of X. laevis, the effective impact on local ecosystems and native amphibian populations is poorly quantified. A large population of X. laevis occurs in Sicily and our main aim of this work was to assess the consequences of introduction of this alien species on local amphibian populations. In this study we compare the occurrence of reproduction of native amphibians in ponds with and without X. laevis, and before and after the alien colonization. The results of our study shows that, when X. laevis establishes a conspicuous population in a pond system, the populations of Discoglossus pictus, Hyla intermedia and Pelophylax synklepton esculentus show clear signs of distress and the occurrence of reproduction of these native amphibians collapses. In contrast, the populations of Bufo bufo do not appear to be affected by the alien species. Since the Sicilian population of X. laevis shows a strong dispersal capacity, proportionate and quick interventions become necessary to bound the detriment to the Sicilian amphibians populations.
“…After the 1950s the presence of exotic species in Italy increased rapidly and the adverse effect of these invaders is now a major problem for the local fish fauna (Bianco 1998;Bianco & Ketmeier 2001;Gherardi et al 2008).…”
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