Impacts of the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) on freshwater ecosystems : a review / Pascal Badiou, L. Gordon Goldsborough, and Dale Wrubleski.

Includes bibliographical references.

Thanks to the help of humans, the common carp enjoys a near worldwide
distribution and is the most introduced species of fish. The common carp has been
introduced to more than 100 countries, usually for aquaculture production. Although the
common carp can be very valuable as a food source and sport fish it can also cause
numerous environmental changes when it invades and becomes established in freshwater
ecosystems where it does not occur naturally.
The common carp can, directly and/or indirectly, negatively impact aquatic
ecosystems by: 1) increasing total suspended solids, sedimentation and erosion; 2)
increasing water column nutrient concentrations; 3) increasing the biomass and altering
the community structure of phytoplankton; 4) decreasing submerged macrophyte
abundance 5) decreasing large zooplankton; 6) decreasing benthic invertebrates; 7)
reducing native fish diversity and abundance; 8) competing with waterfowl for food
resources; and 9) by altering contaminant cycling.
Through these impacts the common carp has the ability to shift aquatic ecosystem
from a clear, macrophyte-dominated state to a turbid, phytoplankton-dominated state,
which may be the most profound impact associated with this aquatic invasive species.
The mechanisms of these impacts are discussed with specific examples taken mostly
from North America and Australia where this species and its effects on aquatic
ecosystems is of particular concern.