Untangling molecular food webs to investigate the impacts of invasive predators on invertebrate communities in the UK.

Dikerogammarus villosus is a high priority Invasive Non-Native Species in the UK, and from previous studies this amphipod appears linked to biodiversity loss, disruptions communities and of nutrient cycling in freshwater habitats. The main objectives of the study were to investigate i) the detectability of known prey DNA in D. villosus gut contents through time after a predation event in controlled mesocosms, ii) the possibility to detect macroinvertebrates DNA in wild populations of D. villosus in the UK, and iii) the possibility to integrate community information into the bipartite network of D. villosus .