First records, pathways and distributions of four new Ponto-Caspian amphipods in France

In Europe, the number of establishment of non-native species, especially from Ponto-Caspian area, has dramatically increased over the past decades and induced important changes in macroinvertebrate assemblages, mainly in large rivers. However, although many Ponto-Caspian species were established in adjacent countries, only two Ponto-Caspian amphipods were formally observed in French hydrosystems since 1996. To update our knowledge on the present distribution of the Ponto-Caspian species in France, we collected amphipods from 203 sites in the Rhine, Meuse and Seine River basins in 2008 and again in 2009. Thirteen amphipod species were found in the study area. Among them, four were first formally recorded in France (Dikerogammarus haemobaphes, Dikerogammarus bispinosus, Echinogammarus ischnus, and Echinogammarus trichiatus). Our study revealed three different corridors used by these species to arrive in France. We also observed a different pattern of colonization for each species, which might indicate some between-species differences in their preferences for environmental conditions. The snapshot of the early distributions of these recently established species may hence be used to study the invasion pattern in France in order to manage their potential impact in and outside France. (C) 2010 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.