Gil-Delgado, Jose Antonio

Mesquita-Joanes, Francesc

Mestre, Alexandre

Valls, Luis

Frontiers of Biogeography

Luis Valls

Alexandre Mestre

Jose Antonio Gil-Delgado

Francesc Mesquita-Joanes

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The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot: intercontinental dispersal of Ostracoda (Crustacea) by scientists attending an IBS excursion

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UC MercedFrontiers of BiogeographyTitleThe shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot: intercontinental dispersal of Ostracoda (Crustacea) by scientists attending an IBS excursionPermalinkhttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/5bn4093fJournalFrontiers of Biogeography, 6(2)AuthorsValls, LuisMestre, AlexandreGil-Delgado, Jose Antonioet al.Publication Date2014DOI10.21425/F5FBG21598Copyright InformationCopyright 2014 by the author(s).This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital LibraryUniversity of CaliforniaHuman activity is one of the main mechanisms through which alien species are dispersed, often unintentionally. Freshwater alien species com-monly are transported between continents by vectors such as ballast water or ship transport of commercial stocks for aquaculture or agriculture (Amat et al. 2005, Escrivà et al. 2012, Strayer 2010). Recent studies conducted within the same biogeographic region on plant seed and aquatic invertebrate dispersal have shown that shoes, clothes and car wheels also can be important vec-tors (Lonsdale and Lane 1994, Mount and Pickering 2009, Waterkeyn et al. 2010, Wichmann et al. 2009).  Many scientists participate regularly in re-search meetings held in continents other than where they work, and these usually include excur-sions to natural areas. When the meeting is over and they return to their home region, the partici-pants could act as vectors for long-distance dis-persal (LDD). Here, we checked the dispersal po-tential of freshwater invertebrates through trans-continental traveling of practicing scientists at-tending an International Biogeography Society meeting.   The International Biogeography Society (IBS) organized its 6th Biennial Conference in Mi-ami (Florida) in January 2013. Three researchers of the University of Valencia enrolled in fieldtrips to the Everglades on the 9th and to the Faka-hatchee Strand on the 13th, organized as part of the meeting (Hortal et al. 2012). Both trips in-volved swamp tromp activities, where the atten-dants enjoyed walking in the shallow (c. 15–50 cm deep) wet prairies, sloughs and cypress swamps for several hours using their own footwear, which got wet and muddy. Upon arrival to the hotel one pair of hiking trainers was washed in tap water, (sample A) while two pairs of hiking boots (samples B and C) were kept dirty. Each pair, after being air-dried, was stored in a different plastic bag until arrival to the city of Valencia (Spain) the 16th of January. Researchers returned home by plane with the boots in their luggage.  In the laboratory, the three pairs of foot-wear were individually washed with de-ionized water in a plastic container on the 21st of January. Each wash sample (A, B and C) was homogenized and separated in three subsamples accounting for a total of nine 1-liter aquaria. All aquaria were placed in a culture chamber at a temperature of 15 ºC and 16 hours light : 8 hours dark photope-riod. Water levels were kept constant throughout the study by adding distilled water when required. During the 28 day experimental period each aquarium was checked for invertebrates on seven occasions (on days 1, 3, 7, 12, 16, 22 and 28). Lim-nological parameters were recorded on day 12. Each check consisted of filtering the water from each aquarium through a 100 µm mesh net and observing the retained material under a stereomi-croscope (10–100x magnification). The inverte-brates found (belonging to Ostracoda) were pre-served in 70% ethanol. Ostracod specimens were identified according to Furtos (1936), Keyser (1977) and Teeter (1980).  The electrical conductivity (EC = 1.5 ± 0.4 mS/cm), water temperature (T = 17.3 ± 0.5 ºC) and pH (pH = 8.3 ± 0.05) in the cultures did not vary notably among aquaria. On day 12, one living ostracod and one right valve of the same species were collected from aquarium B2, all identified as females of Candona furtosae Teeter, 1980 (Fig. 1), a species only recorded previously in Florida (USA). The carapace lengths of these individuals measured 1.05 and 1.10 mm, similar to measures of adult females collected in Pleistocene sedi-ments of Florida by Teeter (1980). This author re-marks that C. furtosae was also found in wayside pools by Furtos (1936) and mangrove regions of the Everglades National Park (Keyser 1977) in Southern Florida (in both publications misidenti-fied as C. balatonica). Karanovic (2006) checked the material of Furtos (1936) and reassigned her ISSN 1948-6596  89 frontiers of biogeography 6.2, 2014 — © 2014 the authors; journal compilation © 2014 The International Biogeography Society The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot: intercontinental dis-persal of Ostracoda (Crustacea) by scientists attending an IBS excursion correspondence C. balatonica specimens to Candona acutula Delorme, 1967. However, after checking SEM pic-tures of valves of C. acutula from Canada taken by Horne et al. (2011), we observed clear morpho-logical differences with the pictures of C. furtosae described by Teeter (1980). Furtos (1936) draw-ings, Keyser (1977) SEM photos and our individu-als (Figure 1) are all most similar to Teeter (1980) specimens. Therefore, taking into account these morphological differences, together with the strong climatic cline comparing the distribution of C. acutula (mostly distributed in Canada) with that of C. furtosae, we consider them as different spe-cies, needing further clarification of anatomical details described by Karanovic (2006).  After traveling thousands of kilometers, a minimum of two diapausing ostracod eggs or juve-niles tolerant to desiccation (as observed in other Candoninae; Horne, 1993) were transported in mud attached to footwear and hatched under laboratory conditions. Ostracod LDD can be re-lated to natural dispersal vectors such as migrat-ing birds (Proctor 1964, Frisch et al. 2007) but, to our knowledge, this is the first time that uninten-tional LDD by researcher-related activities has been demonstrated in ostracods, although previ-ous studies already suggested that it might hap-pen more commonly than thought (Nathan et al. 2008, Waterkeyn et al. 2010). Waterkeyn et al. (2010) found that muddy boots of field biologists can be a significant vector of invertebrate eggs in natural parks, and suggested that if carried in a secondary transport between different wetlands also could result in LDD. Our study, although just a proof of principle, demonstrates this type of LDD, warning that mud adhered to clothes and foot-wear might be an important transcontinental dis-persal vector of aquatic invertebrates. Most probably many small freshwater organisms are being dispersed long distances at higher rates than previously thought (Strayer 2010), and mostly via trading activities (i.e. Artemia francis-cana (Kellog 1906) (Amat et al. 2005) and Daphnia lumholtzi G.O. Sars, 1885 (Havel et al. 2005)). Wildlife tourists and scientists alike, who are usu-ally concerned about the threats posed by inva-sive species, should be aware and take special cautions when visiting natural (protected) envi-ronments in foreign countries to avoid becoming themselves LDD vectors of potential invaders. In this regard, not only tourists and scientists, but also trip organizers and field guides and agencies must consider prevention measures. Control pro-tocols by the Australian Custom Services are a good example of this (Pheloung, 2003).   In this study we only examined the foot-wear of three researchers and found one trans-continental dispersal event. How many of us might have contributed to LDD from/to natural areas elsewhere? Devising and promoting meas-ures to prevent these dispersal events at science meetings is imperative. To start controlling them, IBS organizers could provide resources for field trip attendees to clean their clothes and boots after finishing the trip to reduce dispersal risk, and field guides should provide advice on this issue. Otherwise we would resemble the shoemaker’s son that went home barefoot: discussing in one continent the problems of human-mediated dis-persal of alien species and then returning home loaded with an unnoticed charge of potential in-vaders. correspondence Figure 1. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) picture of female Candona furtosae Teeter, 1980. A: Left valve, inner view; B: Right valve, inner view. Scale bar: 447 μm.   90 frontiers of biogeography 6.2, 2014 — © 2014 the authors; journal compilation © 2014 The International Biogeography Society Acknowledgements We would like to thank Richard Field, Michael Dawson, David Jenkins, Joaquín Hortal, Bram Van-schoenwinkel and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of the manuscript, and to the organizers of the IBS field-trips in Miami.  Luis Valls1,2, Alexandre Mestre1, José Antonio Gil-Delgado1 and Francesc Mesquita-Joanes1,3 1 Dept. of Microbiology and Ecology and “Cavanilles” Institute of Biodiversity and Evo-lutionary Biology, Univ. of València, Av. Dr. Moliner, 50, E-46100, Burjassot, Spain 2 Luis.Valls@uv.es; 3 mezquita@uv.es;  http://www.researcherid.com/rid/F-3200-2011  References Amat, F., Hontoria, F., Ruiz, O., Green, A.J., Sánchez, M.I., Figuerola J. & Hortas, F. (2005) The American brine shrimp Artemia franciscana as an exotic invasive spe-cies in the Western Mediterranean. 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The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot: intercontinental dispersal of Ostracoda (Crustacea) by scientists attending an IBS excursion

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