What are the impacts of piscivore introductions on community structure and diversity?
Biological invasions provide an excellent opportunity to study how basic processes, such as predation, influence community structure and diversity. Insight into these questions requires detailed and long-term study of invaded ecosystems - something we are doing using the introduction of the predatory Peacock bass, Cichla monoculus, into Panamanian freshwaters in the 1970s.
C. monoculus, ©D. Sharpe, 2015.
This system is exceptional because high-resolution quantitative baseline data are available from immediately before and after the introduction. We conducted extensive field sampling across Lake Gatun replicating historical sampling to understand how the community has changed over the past 45 years.
We found that the native community has experienced strong, and sustained declines in the abundance, biomass, and local diversity of native freshwater fishes over the past 45 years. Comparisons with contemporary, non-invaded sites supported this pattern, and further showed how the trophic structure and size distribution of Lake Gatun’s fish community has been strongly skewed by this novel apex predator.
Publications related to this work:
- Sharpe, D. M. T., De León, L. F., González, R. and Torchin, M. E. 2017. Tropical fish community does not recover 45 years after predator introduction. Ecology, 98: 412–424. doi:10.1002/ecy.1648
Media coverage of this work:
"Predator Invasion had devastating, long-term effects on native fish", Smithsonian Newsdesk, Dec. 12 2016.
"Peacock bass invasion had devastating, long-term impact on Panama’s fish" Smithsonian Insider, Dec. 12 2016.
"Una invasión que persiste 45 años después" Scientific American, Jan 5 2017
"El pez sargento sigue acabando con las especies nativas del Canal." La Estrella de Panama, Dec. 13 2016.
"La invasión de un depredador tuvo efectos devastadores de largo plazo en peces nativos." Radio Panama, Dec. 12 2016
"Predator Invasion had devastating, long-term effects on native fish", Smithsonian Newsdesk, Dec. 12 2016.
"Peacock bass invasion had devastating, long-term impact on Panama’s fish" Smithsonian Insider, Dec. 12 2016.
"Una invasión que persiste 45 años después" Scientific American, Jan 5 2017
"El pez sargento sigue acabando con las especies nativas del Canal." La Estrella de Panama, Dec. 13 2016.
"La invasión de un depredador tuvo efectos devastadores de largo plazo en peces nativos." Radio Panama, Dec. 12 2016
Collaborators:
M. Torchin (STRI), A. Hendry (McGill), L.F. De León (UMass Boston), R. Gonzalez (STRI), I. Geladi (McGill), M. Valverde (Cornell), J. Pereira (McGill)
M. Torchin (STRI), A. Hendry (McGill), L.F. De León (UMass Boston), R. Gonzalez (STRI), I. Geladi (McGill), M. Valverde (Cornell), J. Pereira (McGill)
Funding:
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