Growth-related life-history traits of an invasive gammarid species: evaluation with a Laird–Gompertz model
Although the invasive gammarid Dikerogammarus villosus (Crustacea, Amphipoda) is a recent successful invader of Western Europe's lakes and rivers and a threat to North American aquatic ecosystems, its biology is scarcely known. Different growth models for each sex were established for the first time for a natural population of a freshwater gammarid. The Laird–Gompertz growth curve was used because it best fit our data, and it was associated with an environmental forcing function to adjust the growth rate according to seasonal variations in environmental conditions. The growth curve was applied to a length decomposition obtained using the Bhattacharya method, realised on data obtained from a 1-year population dynamics study. The models allowed an assessment of biological traits such as life-span, the age of sexual maturity, the potential number of generations per year, and the growth rate as a function of environmental conditions. Differences in growth rate between males and females were consistent with biological processes such as allocation of energy for reproduction. Dikerogammarus villosus had higher rates of growth and earlier sexual maturity than all other taxa studied, which may explain its invasive tendencies and its ability to colonize numerous new ecosystems, thus becoming a cosmopolitan freshwater species.