Broad-Scale Non-indigenous Species Monitoring along the West Coast in National Marine Sanctuaries and National Estuarine Research Reserves

• Main Authors: de Rivera, Catherine E., Ruiz, Greg, Crooks, Jeff, Wasson, Kerstin, Lonhart, Steve, Fofonoff, Paul, Steves, Brian, Rumrill, Steven S., Brancato, Mary Sue, Pegau, Scott, Bulthuis, Doug, Preisler, Rikke Kvist, Schoch, Carl, Bowlby, Ed, DeVogelaere, Andrew, Crawford, Maurice, Gittings, Steve, Hines, Anson, Takata, Lynn, Larson, Kristen, Huber, Tami, Leyman, Anne Marie, Collinetti, Esther, Pascot, Tiffany, Shull, Suzanne, Anderson, Mary, Powell, Sue
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: PDXScholar 2005
• Subjects: Nonindigenous aquatic pests > Environmental aspects; Introduced organisms > Control; Environmental Sciences; Kachemak
• Online Access: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/esm_fac/76; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/context/esm_fac/article/1076/viewcontent/broad_scale_non_indigenous_species.pdf; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/context/esm_fac/article/1076/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Prt_II_site_specific_projects.pdf; https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/context/esm_fac/article/1076/filename/1/type/additional/viewcontent/Prt_III_overall_conclusion.pdf

Nonindigenous species have caused substantial environmental and economic damage to coastal areas. Moreover, the extent and impacts of nonindigenous species are increasing over time. To develop predictive models and to identify which areas should be targeted for impact mitigation or early detection, we need a basic foundation of knowledge about the spatial and temporal patterns of invasions. This project was developed because we lacked the necessary data to rigorously evaluate the patterns of coastal invasions. This collaborative project, between the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERRS) and the National Marine Sanctuary Program (NMSP), established a rigorous, largescale monitoring and research program for invasive species in nine protected coastal areas along the US West Coast from San Diego, CA, to Kachemak Bay, AK. Our research included two components, broad-scale and site-specific projects. The broad-scale component focused on using standardized protocols to collect data on the composition of fouling communities and nearshore fish and crabs. We collected data from 310 settling plates and 140 traps across nine NERRS Reserves and NMSP Sanctuaries. The four most common taxa on the settling plates were Bryozoa, Tunicata, Cirripedia, and Hydrozoa. We identified these four taxa and also Nudibranchia, a mobile molluscan taxa often associated with fouling organisms, to species and noted which were nonindigenous. We found 132 species in the 5 taxa under study. NIS accounted for over one quarter of the diversity in these taxa, with 31 NIS identified. Over half of tunicate species were non-native. The documented NIS included two new US west coast sitings plus 3 other range extensions. We documented two patterns in NIS, a latitudinal pattern and differences between NIS impacts in marinas versus non-marina sites; research on salinity differences is still underway. Both the number and percent of NIS decreased with increasing latitude. Tijuana River had the most, ...