[Invasive-species] Belgian Forum on Invasive Species

[VANDEN BOSSCHE Jean-Pierre]

Dear Etienne, Ton and all Colleagues,

Sorry for the former message, same subject, not completed and sent mistakenly. Please erase it.

In answer to Etienne's list and to Ton's remarks, please find hereunder information in order to update the list of  -more or less detrimental-  exotic freshwater species in Belgium, specially in the Southern part of Belgium.

First of all, you'll find the recent situation concerning Crustacea, Mollusca & Polychaeta in three recent papers (reprints available on request):
JOSENS, Guy, Abraham BIJ DE VAATE, Philippe. USSEGLIO-POLATERA, Roger CAMMAERTS, Frédéric CHEROT, Frédéric GRISEZ, Pierre VERBOONEN and Jean-Pierre VANDEN BOSSCHE, 2005. Native and exotic Amphipoda and other Peracarida in the River Meuse : new assemblages emerge from a fast changing fauna. H. Segers & K. Martens (eds) , Aquatic Biodiversity II. Hydrobiologia 542 : 203 - 220.

VANDEN BOSSCHE, J.P., CHEROT, F., DELOOZ, E., GRISEZ F.and JOSENS, G., 2001. First record of the Pontocaspian invader Hypania invalida (Grube, 1860) (Polychaeta : Ampharetidae) in the River Meuse (Belgium). Belg. J. Zool., 131 (2) : 183-185.








VANDEN BOSSCHE, J.P., 2002. First records and fast spread of five new (1995-2000) alien species in the River Meuse in Belgium : Hypania invalida, Corbicula fluminea, Hemimysis anomala, Dikerogammarus villosus and Crangonyx pseudogracilis. In : Peeters, M. & Van Goethem, J.L., Proceedings of the symposium " Belgian fauna and alien species ", Bulletin de l'Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Biologie, 72-SUPPL. : 73-78. Bruxelles.

On March, 17th, 2005, I sent a message to the BFIS-yahoogroup  (which is reproduced hereunder) that may still help to complete the list and answer to most of Ton's remarks: 
"Dear colleagues, In December 2001, a symposium "Belgian fauna & alien species" was held at the RBINS. One can find the situation of  most of the freshwater invasive species inits procceedings, mainly in the papers of Rose Sablon, Karel Wouters (see also Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, Biologie, 72: 119-129, 2002) and J.P. Vanden Bossche. In addition to Guy Josens' proposal, we could also add some new entries & additional information, refering to the papers cited above and to more recent observations:

About Crustaceans:
Eriocheir sinensis, origin E Asia, recorded in Belgium in 1933, considered in the 1950's as "pest" and "public enemy" , FREW,MAR Range**, Impact: predation, habitat (futher information needed: ask Jean-Claude Phillipart, ULg)
Astacus leptodactylus: E Europe, 1960's (?) FREW Range ** Impact: predation,competition
Pascifastacus leniusculus: origin N Am, 1980's, FREW Range *** (escaped from ponds, expanding quickly in natural rivers in Wallonia) Impact: predation, competition
Orconectes limosus: N Am, early 1960's, FREW Range *** (stabilised in Meuse River, expanding in natural rivers in Wallonia) Impact: predation, competition
Procambarus clarkii N AM (southern USA), 1980's, FREW Range * Impact: seemingly presently neglectible

About Molluscs (ask confirmation to Rose Sablon):
Anodonta woodiana: origin E Asia, in B 1999, FREW Range*, Impact: threat  if expanding:  habitat & competition
Corbicula fluminea: origin E Asia, in B 1992, Range **, increasing populations in canalised rivers (Meuse...) , Impact habitat
Dreissena polymorpha: origin¨Ponto-Caspian, in B 1850's, Impact habitat competiton & fouling

About Polychaeta:
Hypania invalida: origin Ponto-Caspian, in B 2000, FREW,MAR. Range **,increasing populations in canalised rivers (Meuse...) Impact: habitat competiton & fouling

I think that we may be more precise about the origin: i.e. change "Asia"  to "Ponto-Caspian" for Ponto-Caspian spp (as Ponto-Caspian = SE Europe + SW Asia)
I think also that we should be open minded concerning the "detrimental impact" statement, as it could change rapidly according to populations changes and/or to new observations. Consequently, the list could be open to the "invasive" (or new) species, even if not (not yet or not anymore)classified as "worst". Best regards, Jean-Pierre Vanden Bossche"

In addition, following Ton's remarks, we can confirm:
1. Corbicula fluminalis is actually present in Belgium;
2. D. polymorpha, C. curvispinum, Dikerogammarus spp., Hemimysis anomala are of course Ponto-Caspian species (see above);
3. Astacus leptodactylus originates from E Europe;
4. D. haemobaphes is actually present in Belgium (River Meuse), male & female specimens, since 1998 (Josens et al, 2005);
5. Orchestia cavimana originates from Ponto-Caspian to East Mediterranean area (S-E Europe);
6. Hemimysis anomala  is actually present in Belgium (River Meuse), first record 2000 (Vanden Bossche, 2002); no detrimental effect known;
7. Limnomysis benedeni had not been recorded yet in Southern Belgium (Wallonia) (sampling devices & methods not targeted to semi-pelagic species), see Josens et al, 2005;
8. Gammarus tigrinus is actually present in Belgium (River Meuse a.o.), first record 1995 (Josens et al, 2005); no detrimental effect known;
9. Atyaephyra desmareti is indeed still present in Belgium (River Meuse); no detrimental effect known

I have no information about Quistadrilus nor Aedes albopictus but will try to get it

Please do not hesitate to ask for more information on invasive freshwater macroinvertebrates in Belgium, specially in Wallonia

Best regards,

Jean-Pierre Vanden Bossche

Dr Jean-Pierre VANDEN BOSSCHE
Attaché scientifique, Chef de projet.
Centre de Recherche de la Nature, des Forêts et du Bois (CRNFB)
DGRNE, Ministère de la Région wallonne,
Avenue Maréchal Juin, 23. B-5030 Gembloux (Belgique)
Tél.: + 32 (0) 81 62 64 39  Fax: + 32 (0) 81 61 57 27
E-mail: jp.vandenbossche at mrw.wallonie.be
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Le CRNFB est certifié ISO 9001:2000. "Ce message n'engage aucunement la DGRNE et reste informel. Tout courrier officiel doit toujours actuellement être confirmé par lettre et revêtu de la signature d'un agent dûment mandaté."
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.biodiversity.be/pipermail/invasive-species/attachments/20060113/64b5afb4/attachment.html>