Recent drastic changes in the gammarid fauna (Crustacea, Amphipoda) of the Vistula River deltaic system in Poland caused by alien invaders

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the last decade of 20th century, the nonindigenous gammarid species Gammarus tigrinus , Dikerogammarus haemobaphes , Pontogammarus robustoides and Obesogammarus crassus invaded the lower Vistula River and its deltaic, partly brackish regions. G. tigrinus , an oligohaline North‐American species, was introduced to western Europe in the 1950s; the remaining three species are oligohaline/freshwater Ponto‐Caspian species. All these species are now invading central and western Europe using the network of man‐made canals connecting different European river systems. In the Vistula River, the native European freshwater gammarid species Gammarus pulex and G. varsoviensis were replaced in the 1920s by the Ponto‐Caspian Chaetogammarus ischnus (syn. Echinogammarus ischnus ), which in turn has been outnumbered by the more recent invasions of D. haemobaphes and P. robustoides . In brackish waters, the native Atlantic‐boreal species Gammarus zaddachi and Gammarus duebeni are replaced or at least outnumbered by G. tigrinus , P. robustoides and O. crassus . Possible invasion routes are discussed.