Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
325 are established. The North Sea makes up 16.2 % of the known non-indigenous
species. The lowest numbers occur in Arctic waters where 18 non-indigenous species
were recorded, making up only 1.3 % of the European component (Vermeij
1991
;
O'Mahony
1993
; Boudouresque et al.
1994
; Leppäkoski
1994
; Eno and Clark
1994
;
Gollasch
1996
; Olenin and Leppäkoski
1999
; Reise et al.
1999
; Leppäkoski and
Olenin
2000
; Ricciardi and MacIsaac
2000
; Zaitsev and Ozturk
2001
; Aladin et al.
2002
; Berger and Naumov
2002
; Eldredge and Carlton
2002
; Golani et al.
2002
;
Gomoiu et al.
2002
; Goulletquer et al.
2002
; Hopkins
2002
; Carlton and Eldredge
2009
; Leppäkoski et al.
2002a
,
b
,
2009
; Minchin and Eno
2002
; Occhipinti-Ambrogi
2002
; Ozturk
2002
; Grigorovich et al.
2003
; Hewitt et al.
2004
,
2007
,
2009
; Zenetos
et al.
2004
; CIESM
2005
; Jensen and Knudsen
2005
; Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al.
2005
; Reise et al.
2005
; Streftaris et al.
2005
; Wolff
2005
; Olenin
2005
; Cardigos
et al.
2006
; Gollasch and Nehring
2006
; Gollasch
2006
; Gollasch et al.
2009
;
Alexandrov et al.
2007
; Gittenberger
2007
; Kerckhof et al.
2007
; Cook et al.
2008
;
Olenina et al.
2010
; Verlaque et al.
2010
; AquaNIS
2013
.
1
Katsanevakis et al.
2013
).
Most species introductions almost certainly go unnoticed. Some species, either
gradually or rapidly expand their populations to become invasive, a time when they
become easily recognised, usually some years after an arrival. However, the great
majority of non-indigenous species that are introduced are not perceived to cause
harm, but it is those, that result in some form of impact, that are of concern.
The impacts of introduced species vary greatly and can cause considerable harm
by modifying natural environments with consequent long-term impacts (see Box
1
).
While there are a comparatively small number of invasive species among all non-
indigenous species that arrive, those that have impacts may have serious conse-
quences that may endure for a considerable time. In the extreme cases these negative
consequences are almost catastrophic and seemingly irreversible (e.g. Hayes and
Sliwa
2003
).
Box 1: Nature of Impacts
Impacts on biodiversity
: predation on native communities, alteration of habitat
structure and re-organisation of the trophic web, importation of diseases and
disease agents, alterations of the genome (Olenin et al.
2007
).
Economic losses
: impacts on aquaculture production, impacts on fi sheries
resources, fouling of abstraction piping, impact on recreational resources.
Human health concerns
: infectious cholera strains, other diseases, toxins
generated by algae that contaminate foods, outbreaks of stinging jellyfi sh
affecting swimmers, bathers cut feet on bivalve shells.
1
AquaNIS is the information system on aquatic non-indigenous and cryptogenic species currently
being developed in the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)
under Grant Agreement No. [266445] for the project Vectors of Change in Oceans and Seas Marine
Life, Impact on Economic Sectors (VECTORS).
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