Researchers from the Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź (UŁ), are conducting a study to indicate whether an intensified invasion of Dikerogammarus villosus, a crustacean species that displaces local species in European waters, feeds on fish eggs and could lead to a significant depletion of the fauna, is imminent. 

‘Invasive species are not species that spread naturally, in which case we would be talking about natural range expansion. We are talking here about situations in which humans must either artificially introduce a species into a new area or induce such environmental changes that it can spread to areas that are inaccessible to it in an untransformed environment’, explains research leader Dr Tomasz Rewicz. 

The ongoing project is very important worldwide. The current stage of Dikerogammarus villosus invasion in Poland is a unique opportunity to monitor interspecific hybridisation. 

‘Hybridisation may lead to a super-hybrid, with even greater invasion potential and result in future ‘re-invasion’, says Dr Rewicz.