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Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches
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Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 12960

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ignacio Gestoso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
Interests: marine ecology; coastal system; ecological restoration; benthos; biotic interactions; global change; invasive species; plastic pollution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biological invasions are recognized as one of the major threats for the biodiversity conservation and its prevention, eradication and control are currently major environmental, political and economic challenges. In the marine environment, coasts and estuaries are particularly vulnerable as these systems are under the permanent income of new colonizers mainly through marine traffic connectivity. In this sense, marinas and harbors are the hotspots for the introduction and accumulation of non-indigenous species (NIS), and potential sources from where some of these NIS can eventually spread and invade the surrounding natural coastal habitats, including marine protected areas (MPAs). Ecological experimentation is fundamental for a better understanding on the factors determining the failure or success of the invasion, and also contributes to make appropriate assessments of NIS introductions and better predict the risks of invasion. The aim of the invited Special Issue is to search and publish experimental research focused on marine invasion ecology, with the goal to make a compendium that can serve as a specific update in this research area. All types of contributions are welcome, although experimental studies focused on the following topics are particularly welcome:

  • Control and management of introduction vectors in the marine environment.
  • Coastal monitoring of NIS and innovation in methods for early detection.
  • Experiments on ecology and/or biology of marine invasions.
  • Evaluation of the impacts of marine invasions.
  • Marine invasions and other global change threats.

Dr. Ignacio Gestoso
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Marine ecology
  • Invasive species
  • Global change
  • Biodiversity conservation
  • Anthropogenic impacts
  • Coastal area
  • Ecological interactions
  • Experimental ecology
  • Species distribution
  • Marine traffic

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2069 KiB  
Article
Citizen Science and Expert Judgement: A Cost-Efficient Combination to Monitor and Assess the Invasiveness of Non-Indigenous Fish Escapees
by Paola Parretti, João Gama Monteiro, Francesca Gizzi, Roi Martínez-Escauriaza, Filipe Alves, Sahar Chebaane, Silvia Almeida, Miguel Pessanha Pais, Frederico Almada, Marc Fernandez, Natacha Nogueira, Carlos Andrade and João Canning-Clode
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(2), 438; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11020438 - 16 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1467
Abstract
Mapping the distribution and evaluating the impacts of marine non-indigenous species (NIS) are two fundamental tasks for management purposes, yet they are often time consuming and expensive. This case study focuses on the NIS gilthead seabream Sparus aurata escaped from offshore farms in [...] Read more.
Mapping the distribution and evaluating the impacts of marine non-indigenous species (NIS) are two fundamental tasks for management purposes, yet they are often time consuming and expensive. This case study focuses on the NIS gilthead seabream Sparus aurata escaped from offshore farms in Madeira Island in order to test an innovative, cost-efficient combined approach to risk assessment and georeferenced dispersal data collection. Species invasiveness was screened using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK), and revealed a high invasion risk. Occurrences of S. aurata were assessed involving citizens in GIS participatory mapping and data from recreational fishing contests. A probability map showed that S. aurata is well dispersed around Madeira Island. This assessment proved to be a cost-efficient early warning method for detecting NIS dispersal, highlighting the urgent need for additional surveys that should search for sexually mature individuals and assess the direct and indirect impacts in the native ecosystem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches)
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18 pages, 2116 KiB  
Article
Monitoring Non-Indigenous Species with Passive Sampling Methods in an Oceanic Island
by Anna Diem, Patrício Ramalhosa, Eva Cacabelos, Jasmine Ferrario, Nuno Castro, Filipe Henriques, João Gama Monteiro, Paula Chainho, Christopher Kim Pham, João Canning-Clode, José Paula and Ignacio Gestoso
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(2), 264; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11020264 - 23 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1944
Abstract
The synergistic effects of biological invasions have long been considered significant causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Therefore, early detection monitoring is crucial in mitigating nonindigenous species (NIS) threats. In the marine environment, settlement plates were used as monitoring devices in ports, but this [...] Read more.
The synergistic effects of biological invasions have long been considered significant causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Therefore, early detection monitoring is crucial in mitigating nonindigenous species (NIS) threats. In the marine environment, settlement plates were used as monitoring devices in ports, but this method was mainly applied to assess the sessile benthic community and is less efficient in collecting the mobile biota and accessing its diversity. Moreover, as the potential expansion of NIS to the surrounding coastal environment is still poorly understood, a pilot study was conducted focusing on two aspects: (i) improving the feasibility of the settling method under different environmental contexts and (ii) enhancing the capacity of the developed prototypes to collect more representative samples (i.e., sessile and mobile biota). Three different prototypes were designed: a box prototype consisting of PVC plates encapsulated by a plastic bottle, a CD prototype with CDs surrounded by a net, and a PVC prototype with uncovered PVC plates. The prototypes were deployed inside a marina and in an outside area on Madeira Island, Portugal. Results indicate that the PVC prototype was the most efficient regarding monitoring the sessile community, whereas the box prototype showed the highest abundance of the mobile fauna. The location influenced both the sessile community composition and the number of mobile taxa. Our findings suggest combining features from prototypes to encompass the whole benthic community better. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches)
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8 pages, 949 KiB  
Article
Interspecific Aggression and Food Competition between the Global Invader Palaemon macrodactylus and the Native Palaemon elegans
by Francesco Cavraro, Chiara Facca, Luca Altavilla and Stefano Malavasi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(11), 1593; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111593 - 28 Oct 2022
Viewed by 1257
Abstract
The impact of invasive alien species on native communities can act at different levels both by affecting the ecosystem’s structure (i.e., mainly in the case of vegetation) and through direct interactions (i.e., competition for food or space). Behavioral studies under controlled conditions can [...] Read more.
The impact of invasive alien species on native communities can act at different levels both by affecting the ecosystem’s structure (i.e., mainly in the case of vegetation) and through direct interactions (i.e., competition for food or space). Behavioral studies under controlled conditions can provide relevant information on both the invasive potential of alien species and the potential impact of the invaders on the local native species. In the laboratory, the competition for food resources between the invasive oriental shrimp Palaemon macrodactylus, Rathbun, 1902, and the Mediterranean native shrimp Palaemon elegans, Rathke, 1836, was analyzed. These species are typical residents of coastal transitional and estuarine waters, so the experiments were carried out using two salinity conditions that characterize the coastal lagoon of Venice. Although at both salinity treatments the alien species tended to be more aggressive than the native one, significant differences between the two species were mainly observed at a salinity of 30. In particular, at a salinity of 30, P. macrodactylus spent more time attending to the food source than the native species. The results are discussed in light of the potential inter-specific competition between the two species within the conditions of the Venice lagoon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches)
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13 pages, 1635 KiB  
Article
Effect of Predation on Fouling Communities in an Italian Hotspot of Non-Indigenous Species
by Marco Tamburini, Jasmine Ferrario, Laura Piazzese and Anna Occhipinti-Ambrogi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(10), 1496; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10101496 - 14 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1477
Abstract
The role of native predators in controlling or facilitating non-indigenous species (NIS) growing in a fouling assemblage was investigated with a 70-day caging experiment in a marina inside the Gulf of La Spezia (Italy). Submerged PVC panels were divided into three experimental treatment [...] Read more.
The role of native predators in controlling or facilitating non-indigenous species (NIS) growing in a fouling assemblage was investigated with a 70-day caging experiment in a marina inside the Gulf of La Spezia (Italy). Submerged PVC panels were divided into three experimental treatment levels: “control panels”, “open-caged panels” and “caged panels”, to assess the predation effect on the fouling assemblages growing on the panels. Predation effect was observed for two investigated variables. The Shannon Index was significantly higher in caged panels in comparison with controls, while an opposite trend was observed for the coverage area of native species. When testing single NIS abundance, both facilitation and limitation of individual NIS settlement has been observed. Mean coverage of the sabellid Branchiomma luctuosum was significantly higher in caged than in uncaged or open-caged panels, while the ascidian Styela plicata was prevalent in open-caged panels. In general, a predation effect was observed when considering the whole fouling assemblage, including different trends in NIS coverage among treatment levels. The results of this first attempt performed in the Mediterranean Sea encourage further experiments to investigate the biotic resistance provided by native predators against NIS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches)
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15 pages, 2314 KiB  
Article
From Plates to Baits: Using a Remote Video Foraging System to Study the Impact of Foraging on Fouling Non-Indigenous Species
by Sahar Chebaane, João Canning-Clode, Patrício Ramalhosa, Janina Belz, Nuno Castro, Inês Órfão, Juan Sempere-Valverde, Aschwin Hillebrand Engelen, Miguel Pessanha Pais and João Gama Monteiro
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(5), 611; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10050611 - 30 Apr 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3235
Abstract
Marinas are a gateway for the introduction and establishment of non-indigenous species (NIS). In these habitats, competition and predation are crucial determinants for NIS establishment and invasiveness. However, fish trophic preferences and biotic effects inside marinas are poorly known. This study proposes a [...] Read more.
Marinas are a gateway for the introduction and establishment of non-indigenous species (NIS). In these habitats, competition and predation are crucial determinants for NIS establishment and invasiveness. However, fish trophic preferences and biotic effects inside marinas are poorly known. This study proposes a novel method that combines the deployment of settlement plates to recruit different assemblages, followed by their use as bait in remote underwater video systems. This combined approach, addressed as a remote video foraging system (RVFS), can record fish foraging behaviour, including feeding choices and their impacts on fouling assemblage composition. An experimental RVFS trial carried out in a marina of Madeira Island, Portugal (NE Atlantic), identified the Mediterranean parrotfish, Sparisoma cretense, as the most important fouling grazer in the area. S. cretense behaved as a generalist and increased the heterogeneity of fouling assemblages, which can hamper NIS dominance of the fouling and reduce the pressure of propagules from the marina to the natural environment. The RVFS tool was useful to understand the trophic links between foragers and fouling and has the potential to provide relevant information for the management of NIS introductions, establishment and spread. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches)
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16 pages, 1318 KiB  
Article
Non-Indigenous Species on Artificial Coastal Environments: Experimental Comparison between Aquaculture Farms and Recreational Marinas
by Lydia Png-Gonzalez, Patrício Ramalhosa, Ignacio Gestoso, Soledad Álvarez and Natacha Nogueira
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(10), 1121; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9101121 - 14 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2401
Abstract
Globally, there is growing concern regarding the effects of the increasing anthropogenic pressures in marine communities. Artificial structures such as marinas and aquaculture facilities serve as invasion hotspots; hence, monitoring fouling communities on these structures can be valuable for detecting new invasions. In [...] Read more.
Globally, there is growing concern regarding the effects of the increasing anthropogenic pressures in marine communities. Artificial structures such as marinas and aquaculture facilities serve as invasion hotspots; hence, monitoring fouling communities on these structures can be valuable for detecting new invasions. In the current study, 24 settlement PVC plates were deployed for three months to compare the recruitment ability of these two artificial environments along the south coast of the offshore island of Madeira (NE Atlantic). The results showed higher variations in the species richness between regions (SW vs. SE) than between artificial habitats (sea-cages vs. marinas), although the community composition differed. Cnidaria and Bryozoa were the most representative groups in the aquaculture systems, while Bryozoa and Chordata were in the marinas. A sum of 18 NIS was recorded for the study, accounting for between 21.88% and 54.84% of the total number of species in the aquaculture facilities and marinas, respectively. The higher NIS percentage from the marinas was even more explicit in the SE coast, where Cradoscrupocellaria bertholletii, Parasmittina alba, and Botrylloides niger distinctly dominated fouling populations. The results suggest that at least some particular NIS previously reported in the studied marinas successfully colonized sea-cages. Future assessments need to address the potential role of aquaculture facilities as drivers for the secondary spread of NIS. Additionally, two new records are considered for Madeira: Eudendrium capillare and Ericthonius punctatus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Biological Invasions: Experimental Approaches)
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