Marine Bioinvasions in Australia
Australia has been a regular port of call for ocean going vessels since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the first records of non-native species followed soon after (Table 25.1). However, it has taken over one hundred years and several promine
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Marine Bioinvasions in Australia Cathryn Sliwa, Sasha Migus, Felicity McEnnulty, and Keith R. Hayes
25.1
Introduction
Australia has been a regular port of call for ocean going vessels since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the first records of non-native species followed soon after (Table 25.1). However, it has taken over one hundred years and several prominent invasions by demonstrably harmful species, for marine invasions to attract significant management attention (Thresher 1999; Ferguson 2000; Bax et al. 2001, 2002; Hewitt 2003). The detection of the Japanese sea star, Asterias amurensis (Turner 1992; Morrice 1995; Goggin 1998), the European shore crab, Carcinus maenas (Gardner et al. 1994) and the population explosion of the European fan worm, Sabella spallanzanii (Clapin and Evans 1995; Thresher et al. 1999) in Australia led to the establishment of a Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP) at the marine division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in 1994 by the Federal Government. Initial research of the Centre focused on investigating the impacts and ecology of these highly visible non-native species which had potential impacts on aquaculture and shipping (Thresher 1999). More recent research has concentrated on risk assessment, management and control strategies and early detection/identification methods such as genetic identification probes for larval stages of marine pest species (e.g. Deagle et al. 2003). In the early 2000s, a number of university laboratories in Australia also began researching marine bioinvasions. These research units have since provided large amounts of information on a number of introduced species such as Undaria pinnatifida (Sliwa et al. 2006; Valentine and Johnson 2003, 2005, 2004), Asterias amurensis (Ross et al. 2002, 2003a, b, 2004; Morris 2002; Ling 2000), Sabella spallanzanii (Holloway and Keough 2002a, b), Maoricolpus roseus (Reid 2003) and Caulerpa taxifolia (West 2004), as well as investigating fouling communities (Coutts 1999; Lewis 2001; Lewis et al. 2003), and a relationship between pollution and invasive species (Clark and Johnston 2005; Chap. 7, Johnston et al.)1. 1
Please note, this list is not intended to be exhaustive
G. Rilov, J.A. Crooks (eds.) Biological Invasions in Marine Ecosystems. Ecological Studies 204, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
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Table 25.1 A history of marine bioinvasions in Australia 1862–2004 Year
Significant event
1862
First non-native species in Australia (Electra pilosa) recorded from Port Phillip Bay, Victoria (MacGillivray 1869; Thresher 1999) Carcinus maenas first identified in Port Phillip Bay (Fulton and Grant 1900) Several studies of sub-tidal fouling communities identified a number of species had translocated to Australia (Allen and Wood 1949; Allen 1950, 1953) First record of Sabella spallanzanii in Australia (Clapin and Evans 1995) Toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum introduced to Tasmania (McMinn et al. 1997) Tributylt
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