Author(s): Garcia-Raventós, Aina ; Martins, Filipa M.S. ; Teixeira, Amílcar ; Sousa, Ronaldo ; Froufe, Elsa ; Varandas, Simone ; Lopes-Lima, Manuel ; Beja, Pedro ; Filipe, Ana Filipa
Date: 2020
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10198/23397
Origin: Biblioteca Digital do IPB
Subject(s): Biological invasions; Cryptic diversity; DNA barcoding; Freshwater fish; Streams
The number of non-native freshwater fishes in the Iberian Peninsula has been greatly increasing. In this study, individuals of the genus Phoxinus were detected in 18 out of 138 stream sites sampled across the Douro Basin in 2017 and 2018. A total of 26 individuals were barcoded using partial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and cytochrome b (cytb) genes for species identification and determination of geographical origin. Molecular data provided the first record of a second Phoxinus species in western Douro (Portugal, Iberian Peninsula), with haplotypes closely matching those found in the Charente River (southern France). This species is suspected to be a recent introduction associated with the use of minnows as live bait by freshwater anglers, which was facilitated by human movements between France and Portugal. Individuals from watercourses in eastern Douro (Spain) were genetically assigned to Phoxinus bigerri, an introduced species previously known for that region, which confirms reports of introduction events from Ebro to Douro Basin probably also related to freshwater angling and facilitated by geographic proximity. The potential ecological impacts of this genus in the region are unknown and need further investigation.
We acknowledge Fernando Teixeira, Fernando Miranda, Mário Ferreira, Sara Carona, José Pedro Ramião and Francisco Carvalho for the valuable assistance during fieldwork. We specially thank Maria Filomena Magalhães for previous fruitful discussions and logistic support. We are grateful to Matthias F. Geiger and Andrea Corral Lou for facilitating genetic data and coordinates of sampling sites. Finally, we appreciate the comments of the three anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of the manuscript. AFF and AGR were supported by the project FRESHING founded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and COMPETE (PTDC/AAGMAA/2261/2014 – POCI-01-0145- FEDER-356016824). FMSM was supported by the FCT PhD grant SFRH/BD/104703/2014. This study was conducted as part of the projects FRESHING and FRESHCO. The latter is also supported by FCT and COMPETE (PTDC/AGR-FOR/1627/2014 – 04/SAICT/2015) and UID/AGR/04033/2019. Logistic support was also facilitated by the ENVMETAGEN – Capacity Building at InBIO for Research and Innovation Using Environmental Metagenomics project at CIBIO laboratories (668981; EUH2020-WIDESPREAD-2014-2).
