Oral Presentation Society for Freshwater Science 2025 Annual Meeting

Is river bioassessment sensitive to the presence of non-native species? (118351)

Maria João Feio 1 , Janine P. Silva 1 , Robert M. Hughes 2 3 , Francisca C. Aguiar 4 , Carlos B.M. Alves 5 , Sebastian Birk 6 , Marcos Callisto 7 , Marden S. Linares 8 , Diego Rodrigues Macedo 9 , Paulo S. Pompeu 10 , Wayne Anthony Robinson 11 , Christian Schürings 12 , Salomé F.P. Almeida 13 , Pedro M. Anastácio 14 , Francis O. Arimoro 15 , Min Jeong Baek 16 , Mirian Calderón 17 , Kai Chen 18 , Peter Goethals 19 , Marie Anne Eurie Forio 19 , Jon S. Harding 20 , Ben J. Kefford 21 , Martyn Kelly 22 , Unique N. Keke 23 , Mark Lintermans 24 , Renato T. Martins 25 , Terutaka Mori 26 , Keigo Nakamura 27 , Oghenekaro Nelson Odume 28 , Filipe Ribeiro 29 , Renata Ruaro 30 , Sónia R.Q. Serra 1 , Deep Narayan Shah 31 , Masanao Sueyoshi 32 , Ram Devi Tachamo-Shah 33
  1. University of Coimbra, FCTUC Departament of Life Sciences, MARE/ARNET (VAT: 501 617 582), Coimbra, -, Portugal
  2. Oregon State University, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, & Conservation Sciences, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
  3. Amnis Opes Institute, Corvallis,, Oregon, USA
  4. Forest Research Centre, Associate Laboratory TERRA, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  5. Laboratório Nuvelhas, Projeto Manuelzão, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  6. 7Department of Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg-Essen
  7. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
  8. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Geociências, Departamento de Geografia, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Análise e Modelagem de Sistemas Ambientais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  9. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Geociências, Departamento de Geografia, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  10. Universidade Federal de Lavras, Departamento de Ecologia e Conservação, Lavras, Brazil
  11. Gulbali Institute, Australia, Wagga Wagga, Australia
  12. Department of Aquatic Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstrasse 5, D-45141 Essen, Essen, Germany
  13. University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, Biology Department and GeoBioTec Research Centre, Aveiro, Portugal
  14. MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ ARNET—Aquatic Research Network, University of Évora, Évora, Portugal
  15. Department of Animal Biology, Federal University of Technology, P.M.B. 65, Minna, Nigeria
  16. National Institute of Biological Resources, Incheon, Korea
  17. INQUISAL-CONICET, Facultad de Química, Bioquímica y Farmacia, UNSL, Chacabuco, San Luis, Argentina
  18. School of Marine Biology and Fisheries, & State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Hainan, China
  19. Department Animal Sciences and Aquatic Ecology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  20. School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
  21. Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
  22. Bowburn Consultancy, 11 Monteigne Drive, Bowburn, Durham DH6 5QB, UK and School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
  23. 25Saskatchewan Government Insurance, Government Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada
  24. Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
  25. Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Manaus, AM, Brazil
  26. Aqua Restoration Research Center, Public Works Research Institute, Kawashimakasada, Kakamigahara, , Gifu, Japan
  27. Water Environment Research Group, Public Works Research Institute, , Tsukuba, Japan
  28. Institute for Water Research, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Makhanda, South Africa
  29. MARE—Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET—Aquatic Research Network, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
  30. Federal Technological University of Paraná, Laboratory of Biomonitoring and Applied Ecology, Department of Chemistry and Biology. Rua Deputado Heitor Alencar Furtado, 5000, 81280-340, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
  31. Central Department of Environmental Science, Tribhuvan University, , Kirtipur, Nepal
  32. Aqua Restoration Research Center, Public Works Research Institute, Kakamigahara, Gifu, Japan
  33. Department of Life Sciences, Kathmandu University, , Dhulikhel, Nepal

Non-native (NN) species are a reality in many rivers of the world, but the extent to which NN species considered in the ecological assessment of rivers is not widely documented. Similarly, the degree to which bioassessment sampling protocols and indices integrate NN species is unknown. Many indices do not distinguish native from NN species and their sensitivity to the degradation caused by NN species is unclear. To clarify these gaps, we analyzed indices and information on NN species from 17 countries from 6 continents, and used 8 databases with fish, macroinvertebrate, or macrophyte data. We found that NN species can be: i) not collected or recorded; ii) collected and quantified but not used in index calculation; iii) treated the same as native species; or iv) used in calculating specific NN metrics.  Fish represented the most NN species (1726), followed by macrophytes (925), macroinvertebrates (556), and diatoms (7).  NN species were only distinguished from natives in some fish and macrophyte indices. The abundance of NN taxa was associated with general river degradation and had a significant effect on native community condition. Moreover, when NN fish species were accounted for, there was a strong negative correlation of fish index scores with NN richness and abundance, but when NN taxa was not or only partially considered the results varied. We suggest that biological indices should account specifically for the presence of non-native species to improve index sensitivity to invasion. In addition, improved environmental education and stronger legislation are essential for the control of NNs.