A case study on the population ecology of a topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) population in the UK and the implications for native fish communities

• 1. The topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva is a small Asian cyprinid species that has proved invasive throughout many European countries. Following an initial introduction into the wild in 1996, the species is now proving invasive in the UK, with at least 25 infested waters in England and Wales, of which 10 are known to have direct connection to a major river catchment.
• 2. To demonstrate the threat of P. parva to fisheries in the UK, a case study is presented on a lake located in the Lake District of England where the species was introduced in 2000. The species rapidly established a breeding population that, by 2003, was the dominant species in size classes <70 mm. In 2004, they were the only species in the lake that produced young‐of‐the‐year.
• 3. Individual P. parva adopted the reproductive tactics of early maturity, multiple spawning, male dominance and male nest guarding; sexual dimorphism was manifested in larger body size of males. These traits were in contrast to the resident, native species of the lake, including roach Rutilus rutilus and gudgeon Gobio gobio, which adopted traits of later maturity and single spawning.
• 4. This case study, therefore, revealed relatively rapid establishment of a P. parva population, their subsequent numerical dominance of the fish community, and the impediment of the recruitment of native fish. The implications for UK fisheries are concerning: should P. parva continue to disperse and individuals adopt similar traits as those in this case study, there may be few waters immune from their invasion, numerical dominance and subsequent impacts.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acoustic approaches to remote species identification: a review

Noninvasive species identification remains a long-term goal of fishers, researchers, and resource managers who use sound to locate, map, and count aquatic organisms. Since the first biological applications of underwater acoustics, four approaches have been used singly or in combination to survey marine and freshwater environments: passive sonar; prior knowledge and direct sampling; echo statistics from high-frequency measures; and matching models to low-frequency measures. Echo amplitudes or targets measured using any sonar equipment are variable signals. Variability in reflected sound is influenced by physical factors associated with the transmission of sound through a compressible fluid, and by biological factors associated with the location, reflective properties, and behaviour of a target. The current trend in acoustic target identification is to increase the amount of information collected through increases in frequency bandwidth or in the number of acoustic beams. Exclusive use of acoustics to identify aquatic organisms reliably will require a set of statistical metrics that discriminate among a wide range of similar body types at any packing density, and incorporation of these algorithms in routine data processing.     

Patterns of diel activity and species richness in young and small fishes of European streams: a review of 20 years of point abundance sampling by electrofishing

Originally developed to assess the relative abundance of ≥1+ fishes in large rivers, point abundance sampling by electrofishing (PASE) was adapted for 0+ fishes in the mid‐1980s. Being both economical and widely applicable, PASE for 0+ fish has become a commonly used sampling approach in Europe, but its use for estimating 0+ fish density and species richness has attracted particular concern because of size and species selectivity. As such, this review is both timely and necessary. It summarizes the development of PASE and evaluates its various applications: studies of 0+ fish community composition, relative abundance and density, species richness (S), population size structure, larval and juvenile growth dynamics, microhabitat use, diel dynamics of species–species and species–microhabitat interactions, and the analysis of data emanating from PASE databases. The use and potential misuse of replicate sampling in estimates of S are examined, with PASE data from various European rivers re‐analysed to assess geographical patterns in 0+ fish S. Comparisons of PASE and other approaches for estimating 0+ fish density and species richness have all demonstrated PASE to be cost‐effective and relatively reliable, but sampling accuracy and precision do decrease as fishes enter the juvenile period of development.     

基于InDel标记的斑节对虾早期性别鉴定方法的建立

为分辨斑节对虾(Penaeus monodon)发育早期的性别,利用改良的插入/缺失(InDel)标记追踪了从受精卵、无节幼体、溞状幼体、糠虾幼体、仔虾后1 d(PL1)、仔虾后30 d(PL30)及亚成虾个体的性别,建立了测序和荧光定量PCR熔解曲线的检测方法。结果表明,InDel标记可扩增获得雌雄特异性序列,用测序法判定亚成虾性别的结果与外部观察结果一致,准确率达100%,对受精卵、无节幼体、溞状幼体及糠虾幼体均可得到雌雄特异性序列;进而建立了基于SYBR Green实时荧光定量PCR(Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction,q RT-PCR)熔解曲线的快速鉴定斑节对虾性别的方法,其中雄性特异序列的熔解温度(Melting temperature,Tm)为(79.10±0.10)℃,雌性为(78.45±0.20)℃,通过特异的熔解曲线可准确区分PL30、亚成虾和无节幼体Ⅵ期个体,准确率可达96.3%以上。