scholarly journals Setting-up a billboard of marine invasive species in the ESENIAS area

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paraskevi K. Karachle ◽  
Argyro Zenetos ◽  
Irfan Uysal ◽  
Victor Surugiu ◽  
Kremena Stefanova ◽  
...  

In this study we present a list of invasive/potential invasive alien species in the East and South European Network for Invasive Alien Species (ESENIAS) countries with marine borders. The species were classified according to the existing literature and experts’ judgment, as established, casual, invasive and expected. Finally, factsheets were compiled for ten species of high importance based on their expanding/invading character. Of the 160 species comprising the list, 149 were already present in the ESENIAS countries, while eleven were invasive species either present in the Mediterranean or in other European Seas, likely to be recorded in the ESENIAS countries. The majority of the species were of Red Sea/IndoPacific origin (97 species; 60.6%). Italy, Turkey and Greece were the countries with the highest representation of species (159, 152 and 139 species respectively), due to their extended coastline and the number of scholars working on marine invasive species. The highest number of established species was recorded in Turkey (116 species), whereas in Italy and Greece the most numerous species were the “expected” ones (85 and 48 species, respectively). The eastern Adriatic Sea countries (i.e. Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia) had generally low numbers of species in this list, many of which are still “expected” to arrive from the neighbouring countries of Greece and Italy. Finally, the most frequently potential pathway was transfer stowaways (ship ballast water: 41 cases; ship hull fouling: 55), whereas unaided spread of Lessepsian immigrants followed (95 cases). This list is intended to serve as an early warning system that through horizon scanning process would assist ESENIAS countries to prioritise invasive alien species, their pathways and the areas of higher likelihood to appear, in order to take management measures.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e24749
Author(s):  
Quentin Groom ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Damiano Oldoni ◽  
Lien Reyserhove ◽  
Diederik Strubbe ◽  
...  

Reducing the damage caused by invasive species requires a community approach informed by rapidly mobilized data. Even if local stakeholders work together, invasive species do not respect borders, and national, continental and global policies are required. Yet, in general, data on invasive species are slow to be mobilized, often of insufficient quality for their intended application and distributed among many stakeholders and their organizations, including scientists, land managers, and citizen scientists. The Belgian situation is typical. We struggle with the fragmentation of data sources and restrictions to data mobility. Nevertheless, there is a common view that the issue of invasive alien species needs to be addressed. In 2017 we launched the Tracking Invasive Alien Species (TrIAS) project, which envisages a future where alien species data are rapidly mobilized, the spread of exotic species is regularly monitored, and potential impacts and risks are rapidly evaluated in support of policy decisions (Vanderhoeven et al. 2017). TrIAS is building a seamless, data-driven workflow, from raw data to policy support documentation. TrIAS brings together 21 different stakeholder organizations that covering all organisms in the terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. These organizations also include those involved in citizen science, research and wildlife management. TrIAS is an Open Science project and all the software, data and documentation are being shared openly (Groom et al. 2018). This means that the workflow can be reused as a whole or in part, either after the project or in different countries. We hope to prove that rapid data workflows are not only an indispensable tool in the control of invasive species, but also for integrating and motivating the citizens and organizations involved.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stelios Katsanevakis ◽  
Konstantinos Tsirintanis ◽  
Maria Sini ◽  
Vasilis Gerovasileiou ◽  
Nikoletta Koukourouvli

ALAS aims to fill knowledge gaps on the impacts of marine alien species in the Aegean Sea, and support marine managers and policy makers in prioritizing mitigation actions. The project will focus on under-studied alien-native interactions, priority and vulnerable habitats (such as shallow forests of canopy algae and underwater caves), and apply a multitude of approaches. It will apply a standardized, quantitative method for mapping Cumulative IMpacts of invasive Alien species on marine ecosystems (CIMPAL), according to which cumulative impact scores are estimated on the basis of the distributions of invasive species and ecosystems, and both the reported magnitude of ecological impacts and the strength of such evidence. Towards that direction, ALAS will improve our knowledge base and compile the needed information to estimate CIMPAL by (1) conducting a series of field experiments and surveys to investigate the impacts of selected invasive alien species on marine habitats, (2) producing high-resolution habitat maps in the coastal zone, refining the results of previous research efforts through fieldwork, remote sensing and satellite imaging, (3) producing species distribution models for all invasive species, based on extensive underwater surveys for the collection of new data and integrating all existing information. ALAS will incorporate skills and analyses in novel ways and provide high-resolution results at a large scale; couple classic and novel tools and follow a trans-disciplinary approach, combining knowledge from the fields of invasion biology, conservation biology, biogeography, fisheries science, marine ecology, remote sensing, statistical modelling; conduct for the first time in the Aegean Sea a comprehensive, high-resolution analysis of cumulative impacts of invasive alien species; and report results in formats appropriate for decision-makers and society, thus transferring research-based knowledge to inform and influence policy decisions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodey M. Peyton ◽  
Angeliki F. Martinou ◽  
Tim Adriaens ◽  
Niki Chartosia ◽  
Paraskevi K. Karachle ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Leroy ◽  
Andrew M Kramer ◽  
Anne-Charlotte Vaissière ◽  
Franck Courchamp ◽  
Christophe Diagne

Aim: Large-scale datasets are becoming increasingly available for macroecological research from different disciplines. However, learning their specific extraction and analytical requirements can become prohibitively time-consuming for researchers. We argue that this issue can be tackled with the provision of methodological frameworks published in open-source software. We illustrate this solution with the invacost R package, an open-source software designed to query and analyse the global database on reported economic costs of invasive alien species, InvaCost. Innovations: First, the invacost package provides updates of this dynamic database directly in the analytical environment R. Second, it helps understand the nature of economic cost data for invasive species, their harmonisation process, and the inherent biases associated with such data. Third, it readily provides complementary methods to query and analyse the costs of invasive species at the global scale, all the while accounting for econometric statistical issues. Main conclusions: This tool will be useful for scientists working on invasive alien species, by (i) facilitating access and use to this multi-disciplinary data resource and (ii) providing a standard procedure which will facilitate reproducibility and comparability of studies, one of the major critics of this topic until now. We discuss how the development of this R package was designed as an enforcement of general recommendations for transparency, reproducibility and comparability of science in the era of big data in ecology.


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 119 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. SIMBOURA ◽  
K. SIGALA ◽  
E. VOUTSINAS ◽  
E. KALKAN

The present study reports on the occurrence of two specimens of the alien species Polydora cornutaBosc, 1802, in Elefsis Bay, the Saronikos Gulf (Aegean Sea, eastern Mediterranean). This is the firstrecord of this invasive alien species on the coast of Greece and the second report in the eastern MediterraneanSea after its first finding in Izmir Bay (on the Turkish Aegean coast). This finding enhances its distributionalpattern within the Mediterranean


NeoBiota ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 31-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Bertolino ◽  
Leonardo Ancillotto ◽  
Paola Bartolommei ◽  
Giulia Benassi ◽  
Dario Capizzi ◽  
...  

The European Union (EU) has recently adopted a regulation on invasive alien species that foresees the possibility of developing lists of species of National Concern. We developed a prioritisation process for alien mammals already established in Italy, but not yet included in the EU list (n = 6 species) and a systematic horizon-scanning procedure to obtain ranked lists for those species that are already introduced worldwide or traded in Italy (n = 213). Experts were asked to score these species, by evaluating their likelihood of establishment and spread and the magnitude of their potential impacts on biodiversity, economy, human-health and society. The manageability of each species was also evaluated, both for the proritisation and the horizon-scanning processes. We produced five lists that ranked species according to their potential spread and impacts and their manageability. These will allow policy-makers to select outputs according to a balance between risk assessment and risk management, establishing priorities for alien species management at the national level.


NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Rakel Blaalid ◽  
Kristin Magnussen ◽  
Nina Bruvik Westberg ◽  
Ståle Navrud

Invasive alien species (IAS) are identified as a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services. While early detection and control programs to avoid establishments of new alien species can be very cost-effective, control costs for well-established species can be enormous. Many of these well-established species constitute severe or high ecological impact and are thus likely to be included in control programs. However, due to limited funds, we need to prioritize which species to control according to the gains in ecological status and human well-being compared to the costs. Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) provides such a tool but has been hampered by the difficulties in assessing the overall social benefits on the same monetary scale as the control costs. In order to overcome this obstacle, we combine a non-monetary benefit assessment tool with the ecosystem service framework to create a benefit assessment in line with the welfare economic underpinnings of BCA. Our simplified BCA prioritization tool enables us to conduct rapid and cheap appraisals of large numbers of invasive species that the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre has found to cause negative ecological impacts. We demonstrate this application on 30 well-established invasive alien vascular plant species in Norway. Social benefits are calculated and aggregated on a benefit point scale for six impact categories: four types of ecosystem services (supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural), human health and infrastructure impacts. Total benefit points are then compared to the total control costs of programs aiming at eradicating individual IAS across Norway or in selected vulnerable ecosystems. Although there are uncertainties with regards to IAS population size, benefits assessment and control program effectiveness and costs; our simplified BCA tool identified six species associated with robust low cost-benefit ratios in terms of control costs (in million USD) per benefit point. As a large share of public funds for eradication of IAS is currently spent on control programs for other plant species, we recommend that the environmental authorities at all levels use our BCA prioritization tool to increase the social benefits of their limited IAS control budgets. In order to maximize the net social benefits of IAS control programs, environmental valuation studies of their ecosystem service benefits are needed.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 382 (2) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
JEN-YU WANG ◽  
JENN-CHE WANG

Invasive plants had raised lots of concern about the environment and biodiversity. Many members of Asteraceae are notorious invasive alien species across the world. In Taiwan, Emilia (Asteraceae) contains one native and two naturalized species. Recently, we found some morphologically intermediate individuals between the native E. sonchifolia var. javanica and the alien E. praetermissa from northern Taiwan where the latter two grow sympatrically. Based on morphological comparisons, pollen viability and flow cytometry information, we confirmed the fact of natural hybridization. Herein, we describe a new hybrid Emilia ×latens J.-Y Wang & J.-C. Wang and provide a key to Emilia species in Taiwan.


<em>Abstract.</em>—In Japan, natural populations of three snakeheads have been established: Northern Snakehead <em>Channa argus</em>, Blotched Snakehead <em>C. maculata</em>, and Small Snakehead <em>C. asiatica</em>. Historical literature indicates that <em>C. argus </em>was brought into Japan during the period of national isolation in the early modern period. After the nation’s closure period, the former two species were introduced before World War II for food resources, whereas the last was found in Japan after the war. <em>Channa argus </em>was cultured in irrigation ponds in some prefectures, but ecological invasiveness was a concern because of their predatory nature and nonindigenous origins. When new national legislation controlling invasive alien species began in 2005, three snakeheads appeared on the list of alien species requiring special attention. However, there is little evidence suggesting ecological invasiveness of snakeheads in Japan in recent years. The most recent national list of invasive species in 2016 included no snakeheads. In some water bodies, <em>C. argus </em>is actively used as the ecological agent to control other invasive alien species.


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