Are salinity tolerances of non-native macroinvertebrates in France an indicator of potential for their translocation in a new area?

Because of its geographic and economic position, the Western part of Europe and France is prone to biological invasions. Among the aquatic species non-native to France, a high proportion of these species are considered to be salt-tolerant. To verify this assumption, we compared the salinity tolerance of 18 native and non-native species in France in order to determine whether the introduced non-native species are more salt-tolerant than the native ones. Contrary to our expectations, our study shows that both native and non-native macroinvertebrate species from the same taxonomic group which had originated from within Eurasia had very similar salinity tolerance. Our results show that species originate from outside Eurasia (introduced by the ballast or drinking water on ships) were more salt tolerant than native from France and non-native species originated from Eurasia. Thus, derivation of the acute test of the salinity tolerance in native ranges may give good indications of their potential ability to survive during the translocation by shipping from the area of origin to another area. Our approach does provide empirical evidence for potential of non-native species to survive translocation in saline water using standard, quick and inexpensive protocols.