Socio-environmental impacts of non-native and transplanted aquatic mollusc species in South America: What do we really know?

The impacts of biological invasions remain poorly known for some habitats, regions and taxa. To date, there has been no comprehensive effort to review and synthesize the impacts of invasive mollusc species in South America. In this paper, we provide a synoptic view on what is known on documented socio-ecological impacts of aquatic no-native mollusc species (NNMS) and transplanted mollusc species (TMS) from South America. An expert group involving malacologists and taxonomists from different countries, the “South America Alien Molluscs Specialists” (eMIAS), shared and summarized the scientific literature, databases, and published and unpublished information on confirmed impacts of NNMS and TMS in South America. Three broad categories, non-mutually exclusive were used as a framework: “Environmental/Biodiversity impacts”, “Economic and social effects”, and “Human health impacts”. Some 21 NNMS and seven TMS have documented impacts on at least one of those three categories. We encourage targeting the less known areas of research, such as economic valuation of human health (and veterinary) impacts attributable to NNMS or TMS and expand our knowledge of environmental impacts for the species listed in this study.Fil: Carranza, Alvar. Universidad de la República; Uruguay. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural Uruguay; UruguayFil: Agudo Padrón, Ignacio. Projeto “avulsos Malacológicos”; BrasilFil: Collado, Gonzalo A.. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Sociedad Malacológica Chile; ChileFil: Damborenea, Maria Cristina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Zoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Fabres, Alejandra. Sociedad Malacológica Chile; Chile. Universidad Católica de Maule; ChileFil: Gutierrez Gregoric, Diego Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Zoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Lodeiros, Cesar. Universidad Técnica de Manabí; Ecuador. Universidad de Oriente; VenezuelaFil: Ludwig, Sandra. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Pastorino, Roberto Santiago Guido. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Penchaszadeh, Pablo Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Salvador, Rodrigo B.. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa,; Nueva Zelanda. The Artic University of Norway; NoruegaFil: Spotorno, Paula. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande; BrasilFil: Thiengo, Silvana. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Vidigal, Teofania Heloisa Dutra Amorim. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Darrigran, Gustavo Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División de Zoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentin

Strong spatial structure, Pliocene diversification and cryptic diversity in the Neotropical dry forest spider Sicarius cariri

The Brazilian Caatinga is part of the seasonally dry tropical forests, a vegetation type disjunctly distributed throughout the Neotropics. It has been suggested that during Pleistocene glacial periods, these dry forests had a continuous distribution, so that these climatic shifts may have acted as important driving forces of the Caatinga biota diversification. To address how these events affected the distribution of a dry forest species, we chose Sicarius cariri, a spider endemic to the Caatinga, as a model. We studied the phylogeography of one mitochondrial and one nuclear gene and reconstructed the paleodistribution of the species using modelling algorithms. We found two allopatric and deeply divergent clades within S. cariri, suggesting that this species as currently recognized might consist of more than one independently evolving lineage. Sicarius cariri populations are highly structured, with low haplotype sharing among localities, high fixation index and isolation by distance. Models of paleodistribution, Bayesian reconstructions and coalescent simulations suggest that this species experienced a reduction in its population size during glacial periods, rather than the expansion expected by previous hypotheses on the paleodistribution of dry forest taxa. In addition to that, major splits of intraspecific lineages of S. cariri took place in the Pliocene. Taken together, these results indicate S. cariri has a complex diversification history dating back to the Tertiary, suggesting the history of dry forest taxa may be significantly older than previously thought.Fil: Fiorini de Magalhaes, Ivan Luiz. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Brasil. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Oliveira, Ubirajara. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; BrasilFil: Santos, Fabricio R.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; BrasilFil: Vidigal, Teofania Heloisa Dutra Amorim. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; BrasilFil: Brescovit, Antonio Domingos. Governo do Estado de Sao Paulo. Secretaria da Saude. Instituto Butantan; BrasilFil: Santos, Adalberto J.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas; Brasi

Phylogeny of Neotropical Sicarius sand spiders suggests frequent transitions from deserts to dry forests despite antique, broad-scale niche conservatism

Phylogenetic niche conservatism (PNC) shapes the distribution of organisms by constraining lineages to particular climatic conditions. Conversely, if areas with similar climates are geographically isolated, diversification may also be limited by dispersal. Neotropical xeric habitats provide an ideal system to test the relative roles of climate and geography on diversification, as they occur in disjunct areas with similar biotas. Sicariinae sand spiders are intimately associated with these xeric environments, particularly seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) and subtropical deserts/scrublands in Africa (Hexophthalma) and the Neotropics (Sicarius). We explore the role of PNC, geography and biome shifts in their evolution and timing of diversification. We estimated a time-calibrated, total-evidence phylogeny of Sicariinae, and used published distribution records to estimate climatic niche and biome occupancy. Topologies were used for estimating ancestral niches and biome shifts. We used variation partitioning methods to test the relative importance of climate and spatially autocorrelated factors in explaining the spatial variation in phylogenetic structure of Sicarius across the Neotropics. Neotropical Sicarius are ancient and split from their African sister-group around 90 (57–131) million years ago. Most speciation events took place in the Miocene. Sicariinae records can be separated in two groups corresponding to temperate/dry and tropical/seasonally dry climates. The ancestral climatic niche of Sicariinae are temperate/dry areas, with 2–3 shifts to tropical/seasonally dry areas in Sicarius. Similarly, ancestral biomes occupied by the group are temperate and dry (deserts, Mediterranean scrub, temperate grasslands), with 2–3 shifts to tropical, seasonally dry forests and grasslands. Most of the variation in phylogenetic structure is explained by long-distance dispersal limitation that is independent of the measured climatic conditions. Sicariinae have an ancient association to arid lands, suggesting that PNC prevented them from colonizing mesic habitats. However, niches are labile at a smaller scale, with several shifts from deserts to SDTFs. This suggests that PNC and long-distance dispersal limitation played major roles in confining lineages to isolated areas of SDTF/desert over evolutionary history, although shifts between xeric biomes occurred whenever geographical opportunities were presented.Fil: Fiorini de Magalhaes, Ivan Luiz. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasil. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Neves, D. M.. University of Arizona; Estados Unidos. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Santos, F. R.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Vidigal, Teofania Heloisa Dutra Amorim. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Brescovit, Antonio Domingos. Governo do Estado de Sao Paulo. Secretaria da Saude. Instituto Butantan; BrasilFil: Santos, A. J.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasi

High connectivity and migration potentiate the invasion of Limnoperna fortunei (Mollusca: Mytilidae) in South America

Even after almost 30 years of Limnoperna fortunei introduction into South America, it is still unclear how the source and propagules are connected. Here, we present genetic evidence of population connectivity and gene flow of L. fortunei propagules from Asia into South America, proposing the main invasion routes into South America. To achieve that we expanded the sampling effort to cover all occurrence points of L. fortunei in South America. We sequenced the mtDNA COI gene and genotyped eight microsatellite loci (ML), and we evaluated the genetic source of the recently introduced population in Sobradinho hydroelectric power plant reservoir in Northeast Brazil. Our results revealed that China is the main genetic source of propagules for the Sobradinho population. We also found COI haplotypes and ML genotypes unique to South American populations, demonstrating a bridgehead effect likely caused by local mutation, adaptation, and admixture patterns that are maintained by high levels of gene flow among them. However, two genetic barriers were also detected. We concluded that L. fortunei is a well-established invader and is still rapidly expanding in Brazil, and the Amazon hydrographic basin is under an alarming threat of invasion.Fil: Ludwig, Sandra. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Sari, Eloisa H. R.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Paixão, Hugo. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Montresor, Lângia C.. René Rachou Institute; BrasilFil: Araújo, Juliano. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Brito, Cristiana F. A.. René Rachou Institute; BrasilFil: Darrigran, Gustavo Alberto. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División de Zoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Pepato, Almir R.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Vidigal, Teofania Heloisa Dutra Amorim. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Martinez, Carlos B.. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais; Brasi