scholarly journals Ecoengineering Solutions for the Impairment of Spreading and Growth of Invasive Spartina patens in Mediterranean Salt Marshes

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Cruz de Carvalho ◽  
Eduardo Feijão ◽  
Irina Duarte ◽  
Vanessa Pinto ◽  
Marisa Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Native Species ◽  
High Tide ◽  
Experimental Period ◽  
Spartina Patens ◽  
Invasive Technique ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Lower Efficiency ◽  
Non Indigenous Species

The invasion of natural communities by non-indigenous species represents one of the most serious threats to biodiversity. Understanding the ecophysiology of invasive species can provide insights into potential physiological handicaps relative to native species. By doing so, we can leverage the development of ecoengineering solutions for the removal of non-indigenous species, preferably using non-chemical methods. Spartina patens is a known invasive species of cordgrass aggressively proliferating in Mediterranean salt marshes, producing impenetrable monospecific stands. As its occurrence is delimited by the upper high tide water level, we hypothesized that S. patens is intolerant to waterlogging. Therefore, we developed a field experiment where strands of S. patens were kept waterlogged over the entire tidal cycle for 30 days. At the end of the experimental period, plants in the trial plots exhibited severe stress symptoms at different physiological levels compared with control plots (no intervention). At the photobiological level, intervened plants exhibited lower efficiency in producing chemical energy from light, whilst at the biochemical level waterlogging impaired the antioxidant system and increased lipid peroxidation products. Furthermore, the application of chlorophyll a pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry, a non-invasive technique, allowed us to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented measures, being the tool that provided the best separation between the control and intervened population. Considering the physiological traits observed here, ecoengineering solutions based on increased waterlogging of S. patens stands, can be a low-cost and efficient measure to reduce the spreading and growth of this invasive species in the Mediterranean and other salt marshes worldwide with little disturbance.

scholarly journals Documenting the occurrence through space & time of aquatic non-indigenous fish, mollusks, algae, & plants threatening North America's Great Lakes utilizing herbaria & zoological museum specimens

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. e24930
Author(s):  
Mark Wetter
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
North America ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Zoological Museum ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Non Indigenous Species ◽  
National Resource

North America’s Great Lakes contain 21% of the planet’s fresh water, and their protection is a matter of national security to both the USA & Canada. One of the greatest threats to the health of this unparalleled natural resource is invasion by non-indigenous species, several of which already have had catastrophic impacts on property values, the fisheries, shipping, and tourism industries, and continue to threaten the survival of native species and wetland ecosystems. The Great Lakes Invasives Network is a consortium (20 institutions) of herbaria and zoology museums from among the Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and New York created to better document the occurrence of selected non-indigenous species and their congeners in space and time by imaging and providing online access to the information on the specimens of the critical organisms. The list of non-indigenous species (1 alga, 42 vascular plants, 22 fish, and 13 mollusks) to be digitized was generated by conducting a query of all fish, plants, algae, and mollusks present in the database of GLANSIS – the Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System – maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The network consists of collections at 20 institutions, including 4 of the 10 largest herbaria in North America, each of which curates 1-7 million specimens (NY, F, MICH, and WIS). Eight of the nation’s largest zoology museums are also represented, several of which (e.g., Ohio State and U of Minnesota) are internationally recognized for their fish and mollusk collections. Each genus includes at least one species that is considered a Great Lakes non-indigenous taxon – several have many, whereas others have congeners on “watchlists”, meaning that they have not arrived in the Great Lakes Basin yet, but have the potential to do so, especially in light of human activity and climate change. Because the introduction and spread of these species, their close relatives, and hybrids into the region is known to have occurred almost entirely from areas in North America outside of the Basin, our effort will include non-indigenous specimens collected from throughout North America. Digitized specimens of Great Lakes non-indigenous species and their congeners will allow for more accurate identification of invasive species and hybrids from their non-invasive relatives by a wider audience of end users. The metadata derived from digitized specimens of Great Lakes non-indigenous species and their congeners will help biologists to track, monitor, and predict the spread of invasive species through space and time, especially in the face of a more rapidly changing climate in the upper Midwest. All together consortium members will digitize >2 million individual specimens from >860,000 sheets/lots of non-indigenous species and their congeneric taxa. Data and metadata are uploaded to the Great Lakes Invasives Network, a Symbiota portal (GreatLakesInvasvies.org), and ingested by the National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) (iDigBio.org) national resource. Several initiatives are already in place to alert citizens to the dangers of spreading aquatic invasive species among our nation's waterways, but this project is developing complementary scientific and educational tools for scientists, students, wildlife officers, teachers, and the public who have had little access to images or data derived directly from preserved specimens of invasive species collected over the past three centuries.

Seawater warming at the northern reach for southern species: Gulf of Genoa, NW Mediterranean

2017 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Nike Bianchi ◽  
Francesco Caroli ◽  
Paolo Guidetti ◽  
Carla Morri
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Ligurian Sea ◽  
The North ◽  
Nw Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Non Indigenous Species ◽  
Southern Species ◽  
North Western

Global warming is facilitating the poleward range expansion of plant and animal species. In the Mediterranean Sea, the concurrent temperature increase and abundance of (sub)tropical non-indigenous species (NIS) is leading to the so-called ‘tropicalization’ of the Mediterranean Sea, which is dramatically evident in the south-eastern sectors of the basin. At the same time, the colder north-western sectors of the basin have been said to undergo a process of ‘meridionalization’, that is the establishment of warm-water native species (WWN) previously restricted to the southern sectors. The Gulf of Genoa (Ligurian Sea) is the north-western reach for southern species of whatever origin in the Mediterranean. Recent (up to 2015) observations of NIS and WWN by diving have been collated to update previous similar inventories. In addition, the relative occurrences of both groups of southern species have been monitored by snorkelling between 2009 and 2015 in shallow rocky reefs at Genoa, and compared with the trend in air and sea surface temperatures. A total of 20 southern species (11 NIS and 9 WWN) was found. Two WWN (the zebra seabream Diplodus cervinus and the parrotfish Sparisoma cretense) and three NIS (the SW Atlantic sponge Paraleucilla magna, the Red Sea polychaete Branchiomma luctuosum, and the amphi-American and amphi-Atlantic crab Percnon gibbesi) are new records for the Ligurian Sea, whereas juveniles of the Indo-Pacific bluespotted cornetfish Fistularia commersonii have been found for the first time. While temperature has kept on increasing for the whole period, with 2014 and 2015 being the warmest years since at least 1950, the number of WWN increased linearly, that of NIS increased exponentially, contradicting the idea of meridionalization and supporting that of tropicalization even in the northern sectors of the Mediterranean basin.

Climate change driven massive extirpation of native species from the Israeli Mediterranean shelf

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo G. Albano ◽  
Jan Steger ◽  
Marija Bošnjak ◽  
Beata Dunne ◽  
Zara Guifarro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Seawater Temperature ◽  
Maximum Size ◽  
Extreme Environment ◽  
Time Range ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Shallow Subtidal ◽  
Non Indigenous Species

<p>We quantify a large-scale extirpation of native species from the Israeli Mediterranean shelf, a region strongly affected by rapidly changing environmental conditions and the introduction of non-indigenous species, based on an extensive sampling programme of mollusks on intertidal to subtidal soft and hard substrata. We reconstruct historical species richness from shelly death assemblages, quantify the time range they cover with radiocarbon dating, and compare their richness with today’s living assemblage diversity. The median native richness is 50% of the historical richness for the intertidal, but only 8% for the subtidal down to 40 m. Samples from the mesophotic zone show a much higher median of 42%, which is likely an underestimation due to sampling constraints. In contrast, non-indigenous species show assemblages matching the historical richness. Seasonality is very strong: autumn samples, after the summer heat peak, are highly impoverished in native species but enriched in non-indigenous ones. Additionally, a comparison between today’s and historical native species maximum size shows that shallow subtidal native populations are mostly non-reproductive. In contrast, non-indigenous species reach reproductive size. These results suggest that a recent large-scale change in environmental conditions is strongly favoring non-indigenous species and is the main cause behind the shallow subtidal native species decline. Such an environmental factor is likely seawater temperature that plays a greater role in the shallow subtidal than in the cooler mesophotic zone, and affects subtidal species more than intertidal ones, pre-adapted to a climatically extreme environment.</p>

scholarly journals Biological invasions: winning the science battles but losing the conservation war?

Oryx ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip E. Hulme
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Screening Tools ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Invasion History ◽  
Invasion Process ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Non Indigenous Species

Biological invasions by non-indigenous species (NIS) are widely recognized as a significant component of human-caused global environmental change. However, the standard programme of mapping distributions, predicting future ranges, modelling species spread, assessing impacts, developing management guidelines and screening species suffers from a number of serious limitations. NIS distribution maps can often be as misleading as they are instructive. Perceptions of the intensity, scale and rate of invasion are a function of mapping resolution, and the lack of common mapping standards prevents accurate comparative assessments. Coarse resolution data may overestimate the role of climate in the invasion process relative to other variables such as land use or human population density. Climate envelopes have therefore been widely used to predict species future ranges, but often overestimate potential distributions. Without an appropriate mechanistic understanding of the invasion process, correlative approaches may misinterpret the relative risks posed by different NIS. In addition, statistical models of invasion fail to encapsulate the complexity of human-mediated dispersal, which includes such diverse processes as transatlantic timber trade, horticultural fashion and the continuing expansion of road networks. Screening tools based on species traits, taxonomy and/or invasion history can sometimes result in high discrimination rates. Yet where the cost of false positives outweighs the risks from false negatives, a higher discriminatory power is required. Certain research outputs have perhaps been counterproductive in the war against invasive species. Studies have highlighted that only a tiny proportion of NIS are invasive, that most invasions occur in human dominated rather than pristine ecosystems, that indigenous and non-indigenous species are sufficiently similar that their impacts may not necessarily be different, and that there is evidence that introduced species augment rather than reduce species diversity. It is crucial to address these wider perceptions of the problem in order to mobilize the resources necessary for a global invasive species management programme.

scholarly journals Terrestrial ecosystems of the Antarctic Peninsula and their responses to climate change and anthropogenic impacts

2020 ◽  
pp. 84-97
Author(s):  
R. Bargagli ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Extreme Temperature ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Non Indigenous Species ◽  
Food Web Complexity ◽  
The Antarctic

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are unique natural laboratories where organisms adapted to extreme environmental conditions have evolved in isolation for millions of years. These unique biotic communities on Earth are facing complex climatic and environmental changes. Terrestrial ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula Region (APR) have experienced the highest rate of climate warming and, being the most impacted by human activities, are facing the greatest risk of detrimental changes. This review provides an overview of the most recent findings on how biotic communities in terrestrial ecosystems of the Antarctic Peninsula Region (APR) are responding and will likely respond to further environmental changes and direct anthropogenic impacts. Knowledge gained from studies on relatively simple terrestrial ecosystems could be very useful in predicting what may happen in much more complex ecosystems in regions with less extreme temperature changes. The rapid warming of the APR has led to the retreat of glaciers, the loss of snow and permafrost and the increase of ice-free areas, with a consequent enhancement of soil-forming processes, biotic communities, and food web complexity. However, most human activity is concentrated in APR coastal ice-free areas and poses many threats to terrestrial ecosystems such as environmental pollution or disturbances to soilcommunities and wildlife. People who work or visit APR may inadvertently introduce alien organisms and/or spread native species to spatially isolated ice-free areas. The number of introduced non-indigenous species and xenobiotic compounds in the APR is likely to be greater than currently documented, and several biosecurity and monitoring activities are therefore suggested to Antarctic national scientific programs and tourism operators to minimize the risk of irreversible loss of integrity by the unique terrestrial ecosystems of APR.

scholarly journals Comparative feeding behaviour of native and introduced terrestrial snails tracks their ecological impacts

NeoBiota ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 81-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tedi Hoxha ◽  
Steve Crookes ◽  
Ian MacIsaac ◽  
Xuexiu Chang ◽  
Mattias Johansson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Response ◽  
Feeding Behaviour ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Land Snails ◽  
Ecological Impacts ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Competitive Abilities ◽  
Non Indigenous Species

A developing body of theory and empirical evidence suggest that feeding behaviour as measured by the functional response (FR) can assist researchers in assessing the relative potential, ecological impacts and competitive abilities of native and introduced species. Here, we explored the FRs of two land snails that occur in south-western Ontario, one native (Mesodonthyroidus) and one non-indigenous (Cepaeanemoralis) to Canada. The non-indigenous species appears to have low ecological impact and inferior competitive abilities. Consistent with theory, while both species conformed to Type II functional responses, the native species had a significantly higher attack rate (5.30 vs 0.41, respectively) and slightly lower handling time (0.020 vs 0.023), and hence a higher maximum feeding rate (50.0 vs 43.5). The non-indigenous species exhibited a significantly longer time to contact for a variety of food types, and appeared less discriminating of paper that was offered as a non-food type. The non-indigenous species also ate significantly less food when in mixed species trials with the native snail. These feeding patterns match the known low ecological impact of the introduced snail and are consistent with the view that it is an inferior competitor relative to the native species. However, field experimentation is required to clarify whether the largely microallopatric distributions of the two species in south-western Ontario reflect competitive dominance by the native species or other factors such as habitat preference, feeding preferences or predator avoidance. The relative patterns of feeding behaviour and ecological impact are, however, fully in line with recent functional response theory and application.

Non-indigenous marine macroalgae in native communities: a case study in the British Isles

2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 693-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederic Mineur ◽  
Mark P. Johnson ◽  
Christine A. Maggs
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Marine Macroalgae ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Species Introduction ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Non Indigenous Species

It has traditionally been considered that areas with high natural species richness are likely to be more resistant to non-indigenous species than those with lower numbers of species. However, this theory has been the subject of a debate over the last decade, since some studies have shown the opposite trend. In the present study, a macroalgal survey was carried out at 24 localities in Northern Ireland and southern England, using a quadrat approach in the lower littoral. The two opposing hypotheses were tested (negative versus positive relationship between native and non-indigenous species richness) in this marine environment. The effect of the presence of ‘impacts’, potential sources of disturbance and species introduction (e.g. marina, harbour or aquaculture), was also tested. A positive relationship was found between the number of non-indigenous species and the native species richness at the three different scales tested (quadrats, sites and localities). At no scale did a richer native assemblage appear to restrict the establishment of introduced species. The analyses revealed greater species richness and different community composition, as well as more non-indigenous species, in southern England relative to Northern Ireland. The presence of the considered impacts had an effect on the community composition and species richness in southern England but not in Northern Ireland. Such impacts had no effect on the non-indigenous species richness in either area.

Outlook: Crustaceans in the Anthropocene

2020 ◽  
pp. 464-492
Author(s):  
Karolina Bącela-Spychalska ◽  
Gary C. B. Poore ◽  
Michał Grabowski
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Habitat Destruction ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Extinction Rate ◽  
Global Climate Warming ◽  
Freshwater Acidification ◽  
Non Indigenous Species ◽  
Natural Dispersal

Since the mid-20th century we have been living in a new geological epoch, Anthropocene, characterized by an overwhelming impact of human activity on the Earth’s ecosystems, leading to mass species extinction by habitat destruction, pollution, global climate warming, and homogenization of biota by intra- and intercontinental transfer of species. Crustaceans are among the most diverse and species-rich animal groups inhabiting predominantly aquatic ecosystems, listed as among the most threatened ecosystems. Global threats include ocean and freshwater acidification, eutrophication, pesticide, hormone and antibiotic load, coastline modification, habitat destruction, overharvesting, and the introduction of invasive species. Many crustaceans are threatened by human-induced modifications of habitats, while others are themselves threats—crustaceans are among the most common invasive species. Those non-indigenous species, when established and integrated, become important components of existing communities, strongly influencing other components directly and indirectly, including by species replacement. They are a threat mostly to species with similar ecological niches, most often to other crustaceans. It is hard to be optimistic about the future of crustacean biodiversity. We may rather expect that growing human pressure will variously further accelerate the non-natural dispersal and extinction rate.

scholarly journals Species richness and interacting factors control invasibility of a marine community

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1812) ◽  
pp. 20150439 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Marraffini ◽  
J. B. Geller
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Biotic Resistance ◽  
Marine Species ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Total Species Richness ◽  
Species Recruitment ◽  
Non Indigenous Species ◽  
Total Species

Anthropogenic vectors have moved marine species around the world leading to increased invasions and expanded species' ranges. The biotic resistance hypothesis of Elton (in The ecology of invasions by animals and plants , 1958) predicts that more diverse communities should have greater resistance to invasions, but experiments have been equivocal. We hypothesized that species richness interacts with other factors to determine experimental outcomes. We manipulated species richness, species composition (native and introduced) and availability of bare space in invertebrate assemblages in a marina in Monterey, CA. Increased species richness significantly interacted with both initial cover of native species and of all organisms to collectively decrease recruitment. Although native species decreased recruitment, introduced species had a similar effect, and we concluded that biotic resistance is conferred by total species richness. We suggest that contradictory conclusions in previous studies about the role of diversity in regulating invasions reflect uncontrolled variables in those experiments that modified the effect of species richness. Our results suggest that patches of low diversity and abundance may facilitate invasions, and that such patches, once colonized by non-indigenous species, can resist both native and non-indigenous species recruitment.

scholarly journals Inventarisasi Teritip Non-Indigenous yang Menempel pada Ocean Going Vessel di Pelabuhan Tanjung Intan Cilacap

Biosfera ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Romanus Edy Prabowo ◽  
Erwin Riyanto Ardli
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Species Invasion ◽  
Marine Fouling ◽  
International Shipping ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Barnacle Species ◽  
Shipping Traffic ◽  
Non Indigenous Species ◽  
Different Origins

Portof Tanjung Intan Cilacapis one of four major international shipping ports located in JawaIslandand among 85 ports throughout Indonesia. International shipping ports are exposed for non-indigenous species including barnalces as a consequence of shipping traffic. Barnacle is the most common marine fouling found in ship’s hull and ballast water of ocean going vessel. This work was aimed at knowing which barnacle species were passively transported on such vessels hulls, in order to map and monitor non-indigenous species invasion in the area. Four vessels of different origins were investigated between April and November 2009. Among four vessels, three of them were clean. A cosmopolite non-invasive species were found on a ship of Ukrainan origin, Amphibalanus amphitrite., which also occur dominantly in the port of Tanjung Intan Cilacap. This port was considered at no introduction risk of non-indigenous species.

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