We examined the presence of microplastics in blue mussels Mytilus spp. from the intertidal zone of western Spitsbergen in Arctic Svalbard. The optical microscopy technique detected a total of 148 microplastics, with the highest concentration per mussel being 24 particles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur study re-evaluates a fundamental paradigm in marine invasion ecology - whether introduced species are considered as contaminants, i.e. just present in the system, or whether they are pollutants per se, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe high Arctic is considered a pristine environment compared with many other regions in the northern hemisphere. It is becoming increasingly vulnerable to invasion by invasive alien species (IAS), however, as climate change leads to rapid loss of sea ice, changes in ocean temperature and salinity, and enhanced human activities. These changes are likely to increase the incidence of arrival and the potential for establishment of IAS in the region.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFManaging marine nonindigenous species (mNIS) is challenging, because marine environments are highly connected, allowing the dispersal of species across large spatial scales, including geopolitical borders. Cross-border inconsistencies in biosecurity management can promote the spread of mNIS across geopolitical borders, and incursions often go unnoticed or unreported. Collaborative surveillance programs can enhance the early detection of mNIS, when response may still be possible, and can foster capacity building around a common threat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiofouling of ship hulls form a vector for the introduction of non-indigenous organisms worldwide. Through increasing friction, the organisms attached to ships' hulls increase the fuel consumption, leading to both higher fuel costs and air emissions. At the same time, ship biofouling management causes both ecological risks and monetary costs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, we estimated the variety and distribution of macroplastics in the central part of Spitsbergen, Svalbard archipelago, Arctic. All marine litter photos were georeferenced, then identified using the OSPAR (2010) classification guide. The majority (90% of all objects) of marine debris was macroplastic with average number in the study area being 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 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 areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium- and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderwater imagery is widely used for a variety of applications in marine biology and environmental sciences, such as classification and mapping of seabed habitats, marine environment monitoring and impact assessment, biogeographic reconstructions in the context of climate change, etc. This approach is relatively simple and cost-effective, allowing the rapid collection of large amounts of data. However, due to the laborious and time-consuming manual analysis procedure, only a small part of the information stored in the archives of underwater images is retrieved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA comparative analysis of two risk assessment (RA) frameworks developed to support the implementation of the international Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) and European Regulation on Invasive Alien Species (IAS) was performed. This analysis revealed both differences and similarities between the IMO Risk Assessment Guidelines (IMO, 2007) and EU Regulation supplement on RA of IAS (EU, 2018) in RA approaches, key principles, RA components and categories of IAS impacts recommended for assessment. The results of this analysis were used to produce a common procedure for the evaluation of the bioinvasion risk and impact assessment methods intended to support international, regional and/or national policy on IAS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn a world of declining biodiversity, monitoring is becoming crucial. Molecular methods, such as metabarcoding, have the potential to rapidly expand our knowledge of biodiversity, supporting assessment, management, and conservation. In the marine environment, where hard substrata are more difficult to access than soft bottoms for quantitative ecological studies, Artificial Substrate Units (ASUs) allow for standardized sampling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing stable isotope analysis, we investigated trophic interactions between indigenous benthic taxa and the non-indigenous species (NIS): the green alga Caulerpa cylindracea, the red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis, the crab Percnon gibbesi and the sea hare Aplysia dactylomela. The study was conducted on Lampedusa Island, Mediterranean Sea. We evaluated the trophic positions and isotopic niches of consumers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRapid assessment sampling for target species is a fast cost-effective method aimed at determining the presence, abundance and distribution of alien and native harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens that may have been introduced by shipping. In this study, the method was applied within a large tropical port expected to have a high species diversity. The port of Kaohsiung was sampled for bivalve molluscan species that attach using a byssus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe International Maritime Organization (IMO) Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) is a powerful instrument aimed at reducing spread of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens (HAOPs). As BWMC is expected to enter into force soon, shipping companies will start seeking exemptions for ballast water management in accordance with BWMC Regulation A-4. However, without scientifically robust risk assessment (RA) and consistent rules, the exemptions may introduce a new form of risk within a convention generally designed to reduce risks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reliable taxonomy underpins communication in all of biology, not least nature conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem resources. The flexibility of taxonomic interpretations, however, presents a serious challenge for end-users of taxonomic concepts. Users need standardised and continuously harmonised taxonomic reference systems, as well as high-quality and complete taxonomic data sets, but these are generally lacking for non-specialists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssessment of the ecological and economic/societal impacts of the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS) is one of the primary focus areas of bioinvasion science in terrestrial and aquatic environments, and is considered essential to management. A classification system of NIS, based on the magnitude of their environmental impacts, was recently proposed to assist management. Here, we consider the potential application of this classification scheme to the marine environment, and offer a complementary framework focussing on value sets in order to explicitly address marine management concerns.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe evaluated performance of species distribution models for predictive mapping, and how models can be used to integrate human pressures into ecological and economic assessments. A selection of 77 biological variables (species, groups of species, and measures of biodiversity) across the Baltic Sea were modeled. Differences among methods, areas, predictor, and response variables were evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe brackish Baltic Sea hosts species of various origins and environmental tolerances. These immigrated to the sea 10,000 to 15,000 years ago or have been introduced to the area over the relatively recent history of the system. The Baltic Sea has only one known endemic species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere is an increasing understanding and requirement to take into account the effects of invasive alien species (IAS) in environmental quality assessments. While IAS are listed amongst the most important factors threatening marine biodiversity, information on their impacts remains unquantified, especially for phytoplankton species. This study attempts to assess the impacts of invasive alien phytoplankton in the Baltic Sea during 1980-2008.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe introduction of alien species (AS) in marine environments is a factor of disturbance that can be viewed as a pollution agent. Using basic information on abundance and distribution of alien species, we developed an index that classifies AS impacts on native species, communities, habitats and ecosystem functioning. This method can be used to evaluate impact at five different levels of biopollution, fitting within the existing schemes for water quality assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe term "biotope" was introduced by a German scientist, Dahl in 1908 as an addition to the concept of "biocenosis" earlier formulated by Möbius (1877). Initially it determined the physical-chemical conditions of existence of a biocenosis ("the biotope of a biocenosis"). Further, both biotope and biocenosis were respectively considered as abiotic and biotic parts of an ecosystem.
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