American Zooplankton Found in the Volga River

A research team of Lobachevsky University has detected in the Cheboksary and Gorky reservoirs a new invading species – American rotifer, Kellicottia bostoniensis.  This type of zooplankton was first discovered near Boston in the United States more than a century ago. The rotifer is tolerant to temperature regime and oxygen concentrations in water, is easily adaptable and thus may change the ecosystem of the entire Volga River basin.

"A very rapid process of dispersal of these invading organisms is underway, they capture new territories and cause changes in ecosystems", explains Professor Galina Shurganova of the UNN Institute of Biology and Biomedicine. According to her, the organisms could be transferred to the Volga from the Caspian Sea and the northern regions of Russia, where they were discovered earlier. Researchers consider the possibility of swimming birds’ participation in the transfer of the rotifer.

At the same time, it is noted that the emergence of a new species of zooplankton should not cause damage to the existence of fish in the Volga river basin. "There are no empty niches in the animal world: if one species disappears, it will be replaced by some other species, and the fish will eat whatever food it finds", comments Alexei Klevakin of the State Research Institute of Lake and River Fisheries.