Irmak Kurtul

Ege University · Faculty of Fisheries

Assessing the actual and potential impacts of non-native species is crucial for prioritizing their management. Traditional assessments often occur at the species level, potentially overlooking differences among populations. The recently developed Dispersal-Origin-Status-Impact (DOSI) assessment scheme addresses this by treating biological invasions...

Biological invasions, driven by human-mediated species movements, pose significant threats to global ecosystems and economies. The classification of non-native species is a complex issue intertwining ecological considerations and ethical concerns. The need for nuanced and less ambiguous terminology is emphasised, considering biogeographic, evolutio...

Habitat alterations and the introduction of non-native species have many ecological impacts, including biodiversity loss and a deterioration of ecosystem functioning. The effects of these combined stressors on the community trophic web and functional niche are, however, not completely clear. Here, we investigated how artificial ecosystems (i.e. res...

Stable isotopes serve as indispensable tools in a variety of scientific fields. The scale and breadth of stable isotope research within ecological studies vary from local, small-scale projects to expansive, large-scale research efforts. The absence of a unified European database for the integration and management of stable isotope data (e.g. from f...

Recreational angling is a major introduction pathway for non-native fish into freshwaters, where multiple non-native fishes are often released into waterbodies to diversify the angling opportunities. When these non-native fishes are taxonomically similar, then there is concern that their hybridisation will result in F1 generations comprising of nov...

This study investigates the temporal and spatial distribution of species richness in the Turkish portions of the Euphrates and Tigris catchments in Mesopotamia, aiming to identify areas lacking sufficient research and inform future conservation and management efforts. Data from 153 fish assemblages in the Euphrates catchment and 100 in the Tigris c...

Biological invasions are increasingly recognised as a major global change that erodes ecosystems, societal well-being, and economies. However, comprehensive analyses of their economic ramifications are missing for most national economies, despite rapidly escalating costs globally. Türkiye is highly vulnerable to biological invasions owing to its ex...

Oxynoemacheilus chaboras , new species, from the stream Beyazsu in the Euphrates drainage, belongs to the O. persa species group, being closely related to O. shehabi from the Orontes, O. sarus from the Seyhan and Ceyhan, O. euphraticus from the Euphrates and Tigris, O. karunensis from the Karkheh, and O. persa from Central Iran. The new species is...

Biological invasions pose a rapidly expanding threat to the persistence, functioning, and service provisioning of ecosystems globally, and to socio-economic interests. The stages of successful invasions progress driven by the same mechanism that underlies adaptive changes across species in general—via natural selection on intraspecific variation in...

Background Long-term biomonitoring of macroinvertebrates is a popular and valuable approach for assessing the status of freshwater ecosystems, identifying the impact of stressors, and evaluating ecosystem health. Although macroinvertebrate-based biomonitoring can be effective in detecting changes in distribution patterns and community trends over t...

Garra rezai was recently described from two geographically distant areas in the Tigris drainage: upper Yanarsu River (eastern Türkiye) and Bouein-Sofla Creek (Iran). In the scope of this study, we aimed to ascertain the distribution ranges of G. rezai and its morphologically most similar congener G. rufa in Türkiye by examining 1165 specimens from...

Long‐term biodiversity monitoring is crucial for freshwater ecosystems as it enables the detection of even subtle changes and biodiversity trends, guiding conservation efforts and ensuring the sustainability of these vital habitats. Despite becoming more commonly considered in the field of freshwater ecology and biological invasions, studies using...

Biological invasions, driven by human-mediated species movements, pose significant threats to global ecosystems and economies. The classification of non-native species is a complex issue intertwining ecological considerations and ethical concerns. The need for nuanced and less ambiguous terminology is emphasised, considering biogeographic, evolutio...

Standardized terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science – a dynamic and rapidly evolving discipline – the proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardized framework for its development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with various discrep...

The genus Petroleuciscus was known from the Marmara, Aegean, and Black Sea drainages, as well as southeast Anatolia and Iran. However, studies conducted in recent years have suggested that the species described in southeast Anatolia and Iran belong to different genera. The results and recommendations of these studies were evaluated. On the other ha...

In the scope of this study, fish fauna of Küçük Menderes River and its tributaries, updated with the comparison of the recent ichthyofaunal studies, as well as the length-weight relations (LWR) and condition factors (CF) were estimated for 7 freshwater fish species belonging to six families from the river basin: endemic Oxynoemacheilus eliasi, Cobi...

Biological invasions, particularly of fish species, significantly threaten aquatic ecosystems. Among these invaders, the introduction of the European perch (Perca fluviatilis) can have particularly detrimental effects on native communities, affecting both ecosystem functioning and human well-being. In this study, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope...

Standardized terminology in science is important for clarity of interpretation and communication. In invasion science — a dynamic and quickly evolving discipline — the rapid proliferation of technical terminology has lacked a standardized framework for its language development. The result is a convoluted and inconsistent usage of terminology, with...

Ecological studies on native and invasive populations of European perch Perca fluviatilis and pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus are often based on stable isotope (SI) analysis based on dorsal muscle, where samples are usually taken from sacrificed fishes. However, other tissues, such as scale and fin tissue, can be used as non-lethal alternatives, where...

Invasive species are a significant threat to natural biodiversity and human well-being. Despite becoming more commonly considered in the field of biological invasion, studies using long-term time series from Türkiye`s freshwater resources have remained scarce. To fill this gap, we used nine time series from the highly anthropogenically-altered Lake...

The establishment of introduced fishes can be inhibited by the biotic resistance from species in the receiving environment, including strong consumptive resistance from specific piscivorous fishes. In response to predation pressure, prey fish population responses include predator-induced morphological changes, where an extreme example is seen in th...

The purpose of this study is to create awareness about the species of mosquito fishes (Gambusia holbrooki Girard, 1859) both vectors and ways of introduction to new aquatic habitats. Because the species creates risks, especially for the circumstance of the native and endemic fish fauna, studies about introduction stories of the species are quite im...

Understanding the invasion success of alien species includes developing knowledge on how the biological traits of their populations respond to spatial differences in environmental conditions. For invasive fishes, while the influence of latitudinal and climatic gradients on their biological traits over large spatial scales is well established, there...

Objective: A freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii is frequently found in disturbedor artificial bodies of water, e.g. quarry ponds and gravel pits, reservoirs, aquaria and evenwastewater treatment facilities, it can also thrive in natural lentic and lotic habitats. In thepresent study, we present two new records for C. sowerbii which is non-...

Human-induced biological introductions pose a major threat to global biodiversity, and this is especially frequent in the eastern Mediterranean region, which is a globally important biodiversity hotspot area of high conservation value. To predict at which level introduced species in this region might become invasive under current and projected clim...

Gümüş balığı (Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810), doğal olarak denizler ve lagün bölgelerinde yayılış gösteren örihalin bir türdür. Bu tür, balıkçılık amacıyla, resmȋ kuruluşların bilgisi olmadan doğal göllere ve yapay göletlere de taşınmış ve Türkiye’de, deniz ile doğrudan bağlantısı bulunmayan pek çok göl ve rezervuarda son yıllarda hızla yayılmıştır....

The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment area...

Bu çalışmada, Küçük Menderes Nehri’nin güncel balık türlerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Balık örneklemeleri, kaynaktan mansaba kadar, dört lotik ve beş lentik, dokuz istasyonda gerçekleştirilmiştir. Mevsimlik periyotlarda gerçekleştirilen örnekleme çalışması 2018 yılı içerisinde tamamlanmıştır. Örneklemeler, lotik habitatlarda elektroşoker, lent...

The objective of this study was to determine growth parameters, such as age–length and length–weight relationships, as well as condition factors and sex ratio, of the Carassius gibelio (Bloch, 1782) population in Lake Marmara (western region of Turkey), which is one of the most important fishing areas. Fish were caught on a monthly basis by gillnet...

The length-weight relationship of Paraphanius similis in the Mamasın (Aksaray) and Seyhan (Adana) reservoirs were studied on the basis of n=193 fish specimens (nfemales=85; nmales=108). Fish samples were collected using seine net net in 2016 year. The length-weight relationship was found as W=0.011 L 3.589 (r=0.982) for females and W= 0.015 L 3.406...

This study was carried out to determine the current fish fauna of Bakırçay River in seasonal periods between 2017 and 2018. Sampling was carried out in 15 different locations, 11 lotic and 4 lentic location from the small streams of source of the river to the downstream region. The sampling was performed with “Samus 725 G” model electroshock in lot...

Bu çalışmada, suları Türkiye, Bulgaristan ve Yunanistan topraklarına yayılmış olan Meriç Nehri’nin sahip olduğu güncel balık faunasının bir değerlendirilmesi yapılmıştır. Çalışmada yabancı balık türlerinin, Türkiye'ye olası yayılımları ve bu durumda türlerin yerel balık faunasına olası etkileri, yapılmış önceki çalışmaların incelenmesi yolu ile değ...

Bu çalışmada, dünyanın en istilacı 100 canlı türünden birisi olduğu ifade edilen ve özellikle endemik balık türlerinin varlığı açısından risk oluşturan sivrisinek balığı, Gambusia holbrooki türünün Türkiye’deki dağılımına katkılar sağlanması amaçlanmıştır. Çalışma süresince Türkiye’nin 6 farklı coğrafik bölgesinde bulunan su kaynakları arasından to...

In this study, it is aimed to investigate length-weight relationships (LWRs) of Acıgöl toothcarp (Aphanius transgrediens Ermin, 1946) population from Lake Acıgöl, Afyonkarahisar in Turkey. For this purpose, 144 females and 16 males were examined, totally. The total lengths of female, male and total specimens were measured 2.0-4.7 cm, 2.3-4.0 cm, 2....

In this study, it is presented systematic place, distributions in Turkey, morphological characteristics, ecological features, habitat and feeding preferences, reproductive characteristics of two mosquitofishes, which are considered as a threat especially for endemic species’ persistence. Gambusia affinis and Gambusia holbrooki are known as mosquito...

Risk screening tools to identify species with a high or low risk of invasiveness are being increasingly used for effective management purposes. Amongst the available tools, the Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has been used extensively and successfully in large risk assessment (RA) areas, and was recently upgraded to the new generic tool Aqua...