Recent spread of non-indigenous ascidians (Chordata: Tunicata) in Icelandic harbours

Global shipping facilitates the introduction of fouling organisms to new geographic areas. The increase in maritime transport in recent decades has led to unprecedented development, where marine coastal waters have become one of the most invaded habitats around the globe. Among the most successful i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Biology Research
Main Authors: Micael, Joana, Ramos-Esplá, Alfonso A., Rodrigues, Pedro, Gíslason, Sindri
Other Authors: Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ciencias del Mar y Biología Aplicada, Biología Marina
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
Subjects:
Fouling organisms
Propagule
Colonization
Harbours
Coastal zones
Global homogenization
Pacific
Iceland
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10045/132638
https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2023.2176882
Description
Summary:Global shipping facilitates the introduction of fouling organisms to new geographic areas. The increase in maritime transport in recent decades has led to unprecedented development, where marine coastal waters have become one of the most invaded habitats around the globe. Among the most successful invaders are ascidians. Despite the geographic and oceanographic isolation of Iceland, it is far from being excluded as a recipient region. Ascidians have successfully been able to establish stable populations in Iceland that are slowly expanding around the SW region. Here we report the first record of Ascidiella scabra in Icelandic waters, and the spread of seven non-indigenous ascidians across the S-SW Icelandic harbours. We compare their relative abundances to our survey from 2018. The bulk of these ascidians is not only present in the temperate Atlantic Ocean, but also in the Northwest Pacific and temperate Australasia, revealing that global homogenization of the ascidiofauna is emerging in anthropized coastal areas. The rising of sea surface temperature, driven by climate change, is likely to continue to support the development of this scenario leading to biodiversity loss, which could endanger living resources with severe economic impacts. ARE has received a grant from the University of Alicante (Spain) for carrying out short investigation actions in Iceland (Ref. ACIE21-11). This work was supported by Universidad de Alicante: [Grant Number ACIE21-11].

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