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Monitoring and Research Program for Invasive Species along the West Coast
Biological invasions—human-facilitated introductions of harmful, nonnative organisms—threaten coastal and estuarine biological communities. Biological invasions are the second leading cause of native species declines and they cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars a year. Impacts from coastal invasions include dramatic changes to ecological community structure, infection of native species with parasites and pathogens, stress on commercial fisheries, and alterations to physical habitat structure. Coastal ecosystems are at high risk of invasion because ships transport entire planktonic communities as well as other organisms. Over 500 introduced species already have been found in U.S. marine and estuarine waters. Moreover, the rate and impacts of coastal invasions are increasing across geographic regions, habitats, and taxonomic groups.
There are serious limitations in our present knowledge about coastal invasions despite the increasing ecological and economic consequences of invasions. Until now, the data necessary to evaluate the spatial patterns of invasions within estuaries and along coasts have been lacking. Data on spatial patterns of multiple invasions are necessary to develop predictive models and to identify which areas should be targeted for early detection programs or for impact mitigation and eradication projects.
To address this critical information gap, NERRA, the NERRS, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s Marine Invasions Laboratory, and the National Marine Sanctuary Program jointly set out to identify spatial patterns of coastal invasions in and near our west coast National Estuarine Research Reserves and National Marine Sanctuaries from Kachemak Bay, AK to San Diego, CA. The National Fish and Wildlife Federation provided start-up funds for this collaborative, large-scale project.
This project conducted standardized surveys of fouling organisms (e.g., sponges, hydroids, anemones, barnacles, bryozoans, and sea-squirts) and of nearshore crabs. These surveys are establishing a quantitative baseline and, for the first time, are allowing testing of differences in the number of non-native species across latitudes and habitats using standardized data. Specifically, the project is testing whether the number of established non-native species decreases with increasing latitude, whether the percentage of non-native species will increase with decreasing salinity from marine to estuarine waters, and whether the spread of non-native species is related to life history characteristics and coast-wise transport vectors. In addition, the project will delineate the geographic range of established invaders, track their spread, and identify the diversity and abundance of invasive coastal species across habitats. |
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