NTU Undergraduates' research April 2014 - Biosciences | Página 93

Effects of the invasive freshwater gammarid Dikerogammarus
haemobaphes (Crustacea: Amphipoda) on the native invertebrate
community of the River Soar.
Sebastian P. Phelan
Abstract
Dikerogammarus haemobaphes is a new invasive species to the United Kingdom, it was first
discovered here in 2012 in the River Severn. Since then it has spread throughout UK river systems
over approximately 170 miles in just two years. The aim of this paper was to gain a better
understanding of the effects that D. haemobaphes abundance is having on native communities and
whether this invasive species has any habitat preferences. There were 7 sample sites chosen along
the River Soar (D. haemobaphes presence in this river having been previously confirmed) ranging
from Barrow upon Soar to Kingston on Soar, these sites had a variety of substrate types, river
habitats and surrounding factors. At each site three Surber samples (benthic zone) and three BouRouch samples (hyporheic zone) were conducted giving invertebrate abundance data for each
ecological region. Water chemistry data of both ecological regions was also collected for each site,
along with environmental data. The results stated that D. haemobaphes abundance had no
significant detrimental impacts on the communities it was present in, nor did it have a negative
effect upon the total invertebrate abundance, taxon richness or dominance index. It also illustrated
no significant habitat preference towards any of the 7 sites. These questionable results were
accounted to two factors, the season the samples were collected in and the flooding that occurred
at River Soar during the sampling period.