Raising the flag on marine alien fouling species
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre
Abstract
Harbours are known introduction foci of marine alien species. They act as recipients of new introductions and as sources for
regional spread. We report on subtidal surveys of fouling communities from 14 harbours along the coastline of South Africa
that were used to identify predictors of high alien species numbers in support of prioritisation of monitoring actions by
authorities. The harbours varied in nature from large, international shipping hubs to small, regional fishing harbours and
recreational marinas. Fouling assemblages were assessed using visual and scrape sampling to ensure the detection of large,
mobile and small inconspicuous species. In total, 29 alien species were recorded, 15 of which were detected outside of their
previously known ranges. The number of species recorded per harbour varied from five to. Results revealed that high
numbers of alien species were associated with the presence of yachts and low primary productivity. Harbours which had
yachts and occurred in areas with mean Chl a minimum levels lower than 0.21 mg.m⁻³ had the highest number of alien
species, while harbours without yachts that were larger than 0.1km² supported the fewest alien species. These findings
suggest that the presence of yachts can be used to identify harbours with high numbers of alien species, particularly in
regions with low productivity. While the applicability of these findings to other regions remains to be tested, this work
suggests that harbours that fall within this category could be prioritised for monitoring of marine alien species.
Description
CITATION: Peters, K., Sink, K. & Robinson, T. B. 2017. Raising the flag on marine alien fouling species. Management of Biological Invasions, 8(1):1-11, doi:10.3391/mbi.2017.8.1.01.
The original publication is available at http://www.reabic.net
The original publication is available at http://www.reabic.net
Keywords
Marine species diversity, Marine alien fouling species, Marine alien species -- South Africa, Marine alien -- Production
Citation
Peters, K., Sink, K. & Robinson, T. B. 2017. Raising the flag on marine alien fouling species. Management of Biological Invasions, 8(1):1-11, doi:10.3391/mbi.2017.8.1.01