Special Issue "Effects on Biodiversity Induced by Exotic Invasive Species and Their Control Agents"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability, Biodiversity and Conservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Daniela Lupi
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan, Milan 20133, Italy
Interests: invasive species; biodiversity; conservation biology
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Jana Collatz
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Division Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland
Interests: biological control; risk assessment; invasive species management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Many species move from one environment to another every year, settling down and occupying niches adapted to their survival and reproduction. Sometimes their settlement has a great impact on the environment, the society, and the economy in the new colonized areas. By feeding on native organisms, competition for resources or even alteration of the habitat, however, exotic invasive species can be a direct threat to biodiversity. Likewise, the use of conventional or biological pest control, to manage invasive species—often on a large scale and in natural habitats—can have negative environmental effects. Dealing with invasive species and balancing the costs and benefits of their management is thus one of the major challenges for sustainability.

The current Special Issue focuses on:

- The direct effect on biodiversity due to the arrival of a new exotic species into a new environment;

- The effect of niche occupation by an exotic invasive species;

- The utilization of invasive species by native natural enemies;

- The effects on natural enemies due to a variation in the resource availability;

- The effects of classical biological control of a new exotic species on autochthonous species;

- The effects of conventional pest control of invasive species on native species communities.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Lupi
Dr. Jana Collatz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biodiversity
  • native species
  • authochtonous species
  • classical biological control

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Back-Calculation of Fish Size in Diet Analysis of Piscivorous Predators: A New Index for the Alien Silurus glanis
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4322; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084322 - 13 Apr 2021
Viewed by 438
Abstract
The wels catfish Silurus glanis has been constantly spreading in many European basins, outside its native range. Being a voracious predator, it is considered to have a severe impact on local fish communities. In the Ticino River (Northern Italy), bones of S. glanis [...] Read more.
The wels catfish Silurus glanis has been constantly spreading in many European basins, outside its native range. Being a voracious predator, it is considered to have a severe impact on local fish communities. In the Ticino River (Northern Italy), bones of S. glanis were found in feces from the top predator Lutra lutra. To estimate the control capability of L. lutra for this species and to back-calculate S. glanis’ size from its bone remains, whole skeletons from 27 differently sized S. glanis specimens were analyzed. A double pharyngeal element and all caudal vertebrae emerged as significant items for species identification. The mean length of the pharyngeal element was directly related to fish mass, while for vertebrae, a K-index was proposed to identify the position of each vertebra along the spine and, from this, to calculate the original fish mass. This methodology allowed us to establish that the length of the preyed S. glanis was 85–435 mm, and the ages were between 0+ and 2+ years. The proposed methodology opens new perspectives for more detailed studies on the efficiency of predation by piscivorous species on allochthonous ones. Full article
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