Non-native species do not make native fish more vulnerable to pollution in Mediterranean rivers

The presence of exotic fish in rivers does not alter the native fish response to the environmental pollution, according to an article published in the journal Science of the Total Environment and signed by the researchers Alberto Maceda Veiga, from the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio); Adolfo de Sostoa, from the Faculty of Biology and IRBio, and Ralph Mac Nally, from the University of Canberra (Australia).

 

Exotic fish are able to adapt extreme environmental conditions (droughts, environmental pollution, etc) and show territorial behaviour. They are active predators, alter the food web and can make local fauna disappear. However, knowing whether the presence of exotic fish is a factor that hardens native fish response to the environmental stress –poured wastewater for instance- is still an unsolved doubt among the scientific community.
Further information