Search results for "introduced species"
showing 10 items of 147 documents
Spermophora senoculata on Sicily/Italy (Araneae: Pholcidae)
2019
The pholcid spider Spermophora senoculata (Duges, 1836) is recorded for the first time on the Mediterranean Island of Sicily (Italy) from indoor heated and non-heated habitats of two cities. This species is associated with mostly anthropogenic habitats around the globe. Uncertainty remains about where its native distribution range is located.
Identification and potential origin of invasive clawed frogsXenopus(Anura: Pipidae) in Sicily based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA
2013
African clawed frogs of the widespread polytypic species Xenopus laevis Daudin, 1802 (ranging large parts of sub-Saharan Africa) have been spreading since the 1940s, and have established reproductive populations in Europe, Asia and the Americas, where they can have negative impact as competitors of native amphibians and as disease vectors for chytridomycosis or ranaviruses. Here we use two mitochondrial (cytochrome b, 16S rDNA) and one nuclear (RAG 1: Recombination Associated Gene 1) DNA markers to infer the potential origin of invasive clawed frogs from Sicily that represent the largest invasive population in Europe. Identical mtDNA haplotypes match with those of Xenopus laevis, and Sicili…
Characterization of the land snail Ganula lanuginosa (Boissy, 1835) (Mollusca: Hygromiidae): new invader of the Iberian Peninsula.
2021
Recently, a well-established population of the hygromiid Ganula lanuginosa has been discovered in the Iberian Peninsula, specifically in Xàtiva (Province of Valencia, Spain), corresponding to the first record for the Iberian Peninsula and the Continental Europe. It is a land snail native to North Africa and also known from the European Mediterranean islands, namely the Balearic Islands (Spain), Sardinia (Italy) and Corsica (France). Morpho-anatomical studies of the shell and the reproductive system have been carried out, and these features have been compared with those of the most similar hygromiids, which has allowed us to correctly identify them. In addition, parasitological and ec…
Indirect effects of invasive crayfish on native fish parasites
2013
Interactions between invasive and native species are often modified by parasites. One little-studied scenario is that invasive species affect parasite transmission to native hosts by altering the relative abundance of hosts needed in parasite life cycles, for example by predation on these hosts. Here we show that presence of an invasive crayfish species, Pacifastacus leniusculus, decreases the mean abundance of native parasites transmitted from snails and aquatic isopods to perch, Perca fluviatilis, in two large boreal lakes in Finland. In contrast, parasites transmitted to the fish from planktonic copepods or mussels, hosts not readily preyed on by crayfish, were not affected by crayfish p…
Gel-electrophoretic description of European populations ofTerellia virens (Loew) (Diptera, Tephritidae); implications for its use as an agent for the…
1991
Allozyme frequencies of 15 enzyme loci, 14 of which were polymorphic, were used to characterize sevenTerellia virens populations originating from three allopatrically distributedCentaurea species. The two populations whose origins were geographically furthest apart, from Israel (onC. iberica) and from Switzerland (onC. vallesiaca), showed relatively high values of genetic distance from the 5 populations sampled in Austria and Hungary (onC. maculosa) (Nei's D>0.07). The latter five displayed a high degree of genetic similarity. No diagnostic (fixed) allelic differences were observed between these three groups ofT. virens populations, but they could be well characterized by significant differ…
Learning can be detrimental for a parasitic wasp
2021
Animals have evolved the capacity to learn, and the conventional view is that learning allows individuals to improve foraging decisions. The parasitoid Telenomus podisi has been shown to parasitize eggs of the exotic stink bug Halyomorpha halys at the same rate as eggs of its coevolved host, Podisus maculiventris, but the parasitoid cannot complete its development in the exotic species. We hypothesized that T. podisi learns to exploit cues from this non-coevolved species, thereby increasing unsuccessful parasitism rates. We conducted bioassays to compare the responses of naïve vs. experienced parasitoids on chemical footprints left by one of the two host species. Both naïve and experienced …
Geographical and ecological outline of metal(loid) accumulating plants in Italian vascular flora
2018
The decontamination of heavy metal polluted soils is one of the major challenges that our industrialized world has to face. Remediation technologies are being developed and employed in order to reduce the potential hazards of metal and metalloid contamination. Plants capable of uptaking metals and metalloids in their tissues can be an effective tool to remove such pollutants from contaminated soils. The use of this plant-driven process (Phytoremediation) requires the knowledge of the right phytoextractors to use when facing different types of contamination. The aim of this paper is to provide an inventory of phytoextractors that can be used in Phytoremediation procedures in Italy. The check…
Invasive and native populations of common ragweed exhibit strong tolerance to foliar damage.
2013
8 pages; International audience; Tolerance and resistance are defence strategies evolved by plants to cope with damage due to herbivores. The introduction of exotic species to a new biogeographical range may alter the plant herbivore interactions and induce selection pressures for new plant defence strategies with a modified resource allocation. To detect evolution in tolerance to herbivory in common ragweed, we compared 3 native (North America) and 3 introduced (France) populations, grown in a common garden environment. We explored the effect of leaf herbivory on plant vegetative and reproductive traits. Plants were defoliated by hand, simulating different degrees of insect grazing by remo…
Pre-invasion history and demography shape the genetic variation in the insecticide resistance-related acetylcholinesterase 2 gene in the invasive Col…
2012
Abstract Background Invasive pest species offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of genetic architecture, demography and selection on patterns of genetic variability. Invasive Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) populations have experienced a rapid range expansion and intense selection by insecticides. By comparing native and invasive beetle populations, we studied the origins of organophosphate (OP) resistance-associated mutations in the acetylcholinesterase 2 (AChE2) gene, and the role of selection and demography on its genetic variability. Results Analysis of three Mexican, two US and five European populations yielded a total of 49 haplotypes. Contrary to the exp…
Heart beat rate adaptations to varying salinity of two intertidal Mediterranean bivalves: The invasiveBrachidontes pharaonisand the nativeMytilaster …
2011
Abstract Changes in heart beat rates (HBR) of Brachidontes pharaonis (an invasive Lessepsian species) and Mytilaster minimus (a native Mediterranean species) in response to changes in salinity values from brackish (20) to extreme hyper-saline (75) were investigated both in situ and in the laboratory. The two species displayed different responses to varying salinity, with clear differences in HBR observed between groups investigated at different salinities and between groups originating from different environments. The native species, adapted to narrow salinity changes as those observed in the superficial waters of the Mediterranean Sea, showed signs of stress at salinities slightly above 37…