Ponto-Caspian gammarids: Control movement of gammarids

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    20%
  • Certainty
    40%
  • Harms
    not assessed

Study locations

Key messages

  • A replicated, controlled laboratory study in the USA found that movements of invasive freshwater shrimp slowed down or stopped when they were placed in water that had been exposed to different species of predatory fish, compared to those not exposed to fish.
  • A replicated laboratory study in the UK found carbonating the water stunned invasive killer shrimp.

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A replicated, controlled experimental study conducted in 2008, on specimens from a canal in the USA (Pennuto & Keppler 2008) found that movement of invasive freshwater shrimp Echinogammarus ischnus, slowed down or stopped when exposed to water that had previously contained predatory fishes.  Movement patterns were significantly lower when compared with a control treatment, i.e. fish-free water. Increased avoidance behaviour was associated with increased density of fishes previously in the water. The treatment water had been in contact with either the round goby Apollonia melanostoma, yellow perch Perca flavescens, black crappie Promoxis nigromaculatus, rainbow darter Etheostoma caeruleum or the brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus. One shrimp was put in each of two tanks (7 x 7 cm) containing 1 cm deep freshwater. One tank was fed with water from a 40 l tank containing 1-10 fishes at 2 ml/second over a 30 second period. The other tank was fed with water without fish. Shrimp movements were observed and measured.

    Study and other actions tested
  2. A controlled laboratory study conducted in 2011 in England, UK (Stebbing et al. 2011) found that carbonating water did not kill the invasive killer shrimp Dikerogammarus villosus but 100% of the shrimps were stunned (stopped moving). A test group of five captive shrimp was immersed in carbonated water for 15 minutes. Dead and live shrimp were counted.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Aldridge, D., Ockendon, N., Rocha, R., Smith, R.K. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Some Aspects of Control of Freshwater Invasive Species. Pages 555-87 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species
Control of Freshwater Invasive Species

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species - Published 2017

Control of Freshwater Invasive Species Synopsis

What Works 2021 cover

What Works in Conservation

What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

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