Addressing the impacts of invasive non-native species on lake food webs

Addressing the impacts of invasive non-native species on lake food webs and quantifying their direct and indirect ecological consequences

Invasive or exotic non-native species are recognized worldwide to negatively disturb biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and associated ecosystem services. Since few years, multiple invasions have been observed in peri-alpine lakes, raising concerns about their ecological impacts on food webs. These invasive non-native species (such as plants, mussels, shrimps or fishes) can directly modify species interactions by introducing new predation pressures and inter-specific competition. These direct ecological impacts can propagate along food webs and have indirect repercussions on lower trophic levels resulting in processes such as trophic cascades. To give here an example, one of the currently studied species in lakes is the European catfish (Silurus glanis). This large predator may drastically modify food webs structures, impact various pre-existing species and all lake compartments. Thus it is primordial to characterize its trophic ecology and modelize its interactions with other species. These types of research are carried out to investigate emerging impacts on lake food webs following introductions of species such as the European catfish and to assess repercussions on biodiversity, lake functioning and ecosystem services in view to better manage invasive non-native species and the colonized ecosystems.

Modification date : 26 April 2023 | Publication date : 24 September 2020 | Redactor : DB/SJ/CV