| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4400426 | Limnologica - Ecology and Management of Inland Waters | 2014 | 9 Pages |
In recent decades the Ponto-Caspian mysids Limnomysis benedeni, Hemimysis anomala, and Katamysis warpachowskyi expanded their ranges throughout the North Atlantic region and proved to have profound ecological impacts in the invaded waters. The aim of this study was to (1) provide a comprehensive description about the life history of the previously least known K. warpachowskyi, (2) reveal the number of generations produced annually by the three invasive Ponto-Caspian mysids, and to (3) compare the life history traits of the three species directly for the first time based on a simultaneous sampling. To obtain a high-resolution picture about their body length–frequency distributions, a very intensive (approximately weekly) sampling was carried out in an artificial embayment of the Danube River (in Hungary), where the three species coexist. The relatively large L. benedeni had five generations per year and produced comparatively low numbers of young, while the similar sized H. anomala completed only four generations, but compensated for this with a higher fecundity. The smaller sized K. warpachowskyi was able to produce more than five (probably 6) generations per year owing to its short maturation time and long reproductive season, and attained brood sizes close to those of L. benedeni. The generation numbers revealed by the study can be regarded as extraordinarily high considering the body size of the animals and the temperate climatic conditions, which might contribute to their invasion success by increasing the chance of establishment, especially in the course of jump dispersal events at which Ponto-Caspian mysids have proved very successful.
