Molluscs of the middle and lower Odra: the role of the river in the expansion of alien species in Poland

Abstract

The malacofauna of the middle and lower Odra (Oder River), a large river degraded by human activities, is still rich and diversified. Fifty five mollusc species were recorded from 31 studied localities: 32 Gastropoda and 23 Bivalvia. The highest number of species (47) inhabited the areas between groynes, whereas the fewest species (20) were found in the river current outside groynes. As many as 14.5% of the recorded species were alien to the Polish fauna: Lithoglyphus naticoides, Potamopyrgus antipodarum, Physella acuta, Ferrissia fragilis, Menetus dilatatus, Corbicula fluminalis, C. fluminea, and Dreissena polymorpha. The presence of so many alien species shows that the Odra, together with the system of canals (which through the Spree and the Havel connect it to the drainage basin of the Elbe), is a major route along which alien molluscs migrate to Poland.

Changes in the benthic fauna composition in the Upper Vistula over the last 50 years – the consequences of the water pollution reduction and alien species invasion

“…The composition of the benthic fauna in the biggest Polish rivers, such as the Vistula and the Oder, clearly changes due to the invasion of alien species from various groups e.g. crustaceans (Konopacka 1998;Jażdżewski et al 2004;Konopacka 2004;Bącela et al 2008;Grabowski et al 2007;, oligochaetous clitellates (formerly Oligochaeta) (Dumnicka 2016;Jabłońska et al 2015) or mollusks (Piechocki, Szlauer-Łukaszewska 2016), as well as due to the water quality improvement (Absalon, Matysik 2007;Pająk 2016;Schöll 2003). These biological changes have not been documented in the Upper Vistula -the stretch of the Vistula between the mouth of the Przemsza River (95 km of the water course) and the San River mouth (368 km).…”

Further dispersion of the invasive alien species Corbicula fluminea (O. F. Müller, 1774) in the Oder River

“…It was found at six sampling sites from Zollbrücke to Ratzdorf in Germany (Müller et al, 2007) and at 14 localities on the stretch of the river from Szczecin to Kopanie in Poland (Wawrzyniak-Wydrowska, 2007). In the following years, Piechocki and Szlauer-Łukaszewska (2013) identified further records of C. fluminea at 11 sites in the middle course of the Oder River (on the section from Słubice to Głogów). Wilke (2007) also reported C. fluminea in the Hohensaaten-Friedrichsthal Channel, which links the end section of the Oder-Havel Canal with the Western Oder.…”

“…By the 20th century, 16 non-indigenous species had been identified in the Oder estuary, among them were three mollusc species (Potamopyrgus antipodarum, Dreissena polymorpha and Mya arenaria) (Gruszka, 1999). Since then, 13 new alien species have been recorded in the lower and the middle courses of the Oder River including seven mollusc species -Lithoglyphus naticoides (Bij de Vaate et al, 2002;Piechocki and Szlauer-Łukaszewska, 2013), Ferrissia fragilis, Menetus dilatatus, Physa acuta (Piechocki and Szlauer-Łukaszewska, 2013), Corbicula fluminalis (Łabęcka et al, 2005;Piechocki and Szlauer-Łukaszewska, 2013), Corbicula fluminea (Domagała et al, 2004) and Dreissena rostriformis bugensis (Woźniczka et al, 2016).…”

The influence of the landscape structure within buffer zones, catchment land use and instream environmental variables on mollusc communities in a medium‐sized lowland river

“…the lower Havel River (Germany) (von Oheimb et al 2007). The Krąpiel River supports fewer alien mollusc species than very large rivers in terms of catchment area (Bo´dis et al 2012(Bo´dis et al , 2016Piechocki and Szlauer-Łukaszewska 2013).…”