S. Gollasch
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Databases
DATABASES ON AQUATIC ALIEN SPECIES: NORTH AND
MEDITERRANEAN SEAS AND NON-EUROPEAN INITIATIVES
STEPHAN GOLLASCH
GoConsult, Hamburg, Germany
[email protected]
Abstract
Over the past decades research in the field of aquatic invasions has expanded rapidly due to an
increased awareness of unwanted impacts in invaded habitats. As result the information dissemination is enormous. However, while a number of regional databases on invasive species exist, a
centralized and comprehensive Internet based inventory that provides relevant species-specific
information on invaders is lacking.
1 Introduction
This contribution focuses on non-Baltic inventories regarding introduced aquatic species and related issues (for Baltic details see next chapter). The following list of inventories and databases does not claim to be fully comprehensive as new developments
occur frequently, especially on the Internet. A brief introduction to each database is
given and all Internet references were checked between August 27th and September 5th
2001.
2 Europe (excluding the Baltic Sea)
2.1 NORTH SEA, SCOTTISH AND BRITISH COASTS
(i) Reise K, Gollasch S & Wolff WJ (1999) Introduced marine species of the North
Sea coasts. Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen 52: 219-234. This account lists
about 80 nonindigenous species that form self-sustaining populations in the North
Sea.
(ii) Welch D, Carss DN, Gornall J, Manchester SJ, Marquiss M, Preston CD, Telfer
MG, Arnold H & Holbrook J (2001) An audit of alien species in Scotland. Scottish
Natural Heritage Review No 139. The report lists 988 species considered alien and
gives basic information about their origin, vector of introduction, habitats and impact.
(iii) Eno NC (1996) Non-native marine species in British waters: effects and controls.
Aquatic Conservation: Marine & Freshwater Ecosystems 6: 215-228.
Databases on alien species
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(iv) Eno NC, Clark RA & Sanderson WG (eds) (1997) Non-native marine species in
British waters: a review and directory (Directory of Non-native Marine Species in
British Waters). Joint Nature Conservation Committee, 152 pp. The Internet based
directory based on the above mentioned publications includes new records since its
publication (http://www.jncc.gov.uk/marine/dns/).
2.2 MEDITERRANEAN REGION
(i) The CIESM Atlas of Exotic Species is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive
summary of recent marine immigrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Individual species
pages present illustrations, diagnostic features, biological information, references
and a distribution map (http://www.ciesm.org).
(ii) Caulerpa taxifolia Database located at Laboratoire Evironnement Marin Littoral
(LEML), Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis. The site provides photographs, distributional maps, results of research initiatives and impacts (http://www.unice.fr/
LEML select www.caulerpa.org http://www.com.univ-mrs.fr/basecaul).
(iii) Alien crayfish species, Results of the workshop: “The Introduction of Alien Species
of Crayfish in Europe. How to make the best of a bad situation? University of Florence, Italy, September 24-27, 1997 Museo "La Specola"
(http://www.unifi.it/unifi/dbag/workshop/Welcome.html).
2.3 EUROPEAN NETWORK ON AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES RESEARCHERS
(ERNAIS)
ERNAIS is a joint initiative of the author and Vadim Panov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Zoological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia) Chairman of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology (SIL) Working Group on Aquatic Invasive Species (WG AIS). Key objectives of ERNAIS: (a) to create a network facilitating
a close cooperation and information exchange between invasion biologists Europeanwide, (b) the development of an international database on aquatic alien species and (c)
to document the impact of invaders. At present more than 87 scientists from 27 European countries join this initiative
(http://www.zin.ru/projects/invasions/gaas/ernaismn.htm).
3 North America
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
NAS – Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (U.S.)
This site focuses on biogeographic accounts of nonindigenous aquatic species
and includes scientific reports, online queries, data sets, regional contact lists,
and general information of nonindigenous algae, plants, vertebrate and invertebrate aquatic species. The geographical coverage is the USA
(http://nas.er.usgs.gov, http://www.fcsc.usgs. gov/R4finalreport.pdf).
US Great Lakes
Since the 1800s, more than 140 exotic aquatic organisms including, algae vascular plants, invertebrates and fish became established in the Great Lakes
(http://www.great-lakes.net/envt/flora-fauna/invasive/invasive.html).
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution lists a page on harmful algae at
http://habserv1.whoi.edu/hab/.
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(iv)
S. Gollasch
National Database of Marine and Estuarine Invasions (U.S.) Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) has developed and maintains a database of
marine and estuarine invasions in the U.S. This database compiles a detailed invasion history of approximately 500 different species of plants, fish, invertebrates, and algae that have invaded coastal states of the North America. The database identifies which species are invading, as well as when, where, and how
they invaded; it also summarizes any existing information on the ecological and
economic impacts of each invader. SERC is now working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) which maintains a parallel database for primarily freshwater
invasions (see NAS above), to functionally link the marine database (SERC) and
freshwater database (USGS) - creating access to information in both databases
through a single website.
(v)
Aquatic Invasion Research Directory (AIRD)
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) Edgewater, MD, USA
developed an international database of researchers and research studies (Aquatic
Invasions Research Directory (AIRD)). The scope of the Directory includes (a)
ecology of aquatic invasions: vectors, impacts, risk assessment and response, (b)
ecology of ballast water, (c) prevention and treatment measures, and (d) policy
and management details (http://invasions.si.edu/aird.htm).
(vi) Gulf of Mexico
Inventory of nonindigenous species in the Gulf of Mexico and research needs for
these species as a cooperative program of the Gulf of Mexico Program and the
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Museum. (http://museum.ims.usm.edu/,
http://lionfish.ims.usm.edu/~musweb/invaders.html,
http://lionfish.ims.usm.edu/~musweb/nis/nistoc.html, and
http://www.gmpo.gov/).
(vii) Sea Grant Nonindigenous Species (SGNIS)
The SGNIS Site of the National Sea Grant College Program, produced by the
Great Lakes Sea Grant Network contains a comprehensive collection of research
publications and education materials on zebra mussels and other aquatic nuisance
species (http://www.sgnis.org, http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/sgnis).
(viii) Invasivespecies.gov
This site provides details of (a) the impacts of invasive species and the Federal
Government's response, (b) selected species profiles, (c) links to agencies and organizations dealing with invasive species, and (d) databases (Invasive Species
Databases, Expertise Databases, General Databases, Terrestrial Plant Databases,
Terrestrial Animal Databases, Aquatic Plant Databases, Aquatic Animal Databases, Microbial Databases and Regional Databases)
(http://www.invasivespecies.gov/index.shtml).
(ix) San Francisco Bay
The San Francisco Estuary is globally seen one of most invaded aquatic ecosystems with more than 200 introduced species. Cohen AN & Carlton JT (1995)
Nonindigenous Aquatic Species in a United States Estuary: A case Study of the
Biological Invasions of the San Francisco Bay and Delta. Report for the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington D.C. and the National Sea grant
Databases on alien species
(x)
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College Program, Connecticut Sea Grant, 200 pp
(http://nas.er.usgs.gov/publications/sfinvade.htm).
Zebra Mussel links
The key task of the Western Zebra Mussel Task Force (WZMTF) is to prevent
and/or slow the spread of zebra mussels into western North America
(http://www.usbr.gov/zebra/wzmtf.html. This site provides links to various related sites).
4 Australia and New Zealand
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
The Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP) is Australia's
national centre for research on the impacts and management of introduced marine
species. A database of nonindigenous species established in Australian waters
was compiled and contains more than 75 marine invertebrates, algae, plants, and
fishes (Furlani DM (1996) A Guide to the Introduced Marine Species in Australian Waters. CRIMP, Technical Report 5, unbound file of approx. 200 pp).
CRIMP Technical Reports and Information Sheets on marine introductions and
detailed reports on selected invaders (Invasive Marine Pests Database)
(http://www.ml.CSIRO.au/~spinks/CRIMP/index.html).
Weeds in New Zealand. Inventory of terrestrial and aquatic plants in New Zealand (http://www.boprc.govt.nz/www/green/weeds.htm).
5 Global databases on ballast water and introduced aquatic species
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
UNESCO-IOC Global Directory of Marine (and Freshwater) Professionals
(GLODIR) is a database, containing information on individuals involved in all
aspects of aquatic research and management including contact details, description
of activities and citations of most important and/or most recent papers, inter alia
data related to the invasive species problem (http://ioc2.unesco.org/glodir).
Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP). The database was developed by
IUCN’s Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) as a contribution to Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP). GISP provides details on the top 100 invasive
terrestrial and aquatic species worldwide. The detailed reports aim to illustrate
the range of impacts caused by biological invasion (http://www.iucn.org,
http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/pubs/policy/invasivesEng.htm,
http://indaba.iucn.org/external/themes/ssc/programs/ invasives/issg
http://www.issg.org/database/welcome).
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Database on Introductions of Aquatic
Species (DIAS). This site is an important source of information on benefits and
risks of species introductions. It was initiated by R. Welcomme in the early
1980s. The database contains about 3,150 records
(http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/fishery/statist/fisoft/dias/index.htm).
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Harmful Algal Blooms
(HAB) Programme. HAB are of major concern as these species severely impact
e.g. aquaculture activities resulting in loss of harvest of affected industries. The
IOC Harmful Algae Bloom Expert Directory HABDIR is available at
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http://ioc.unesco.org/iocweb/default.htm, http://ioc.unesco.org/hab/FINAL.PDF,
http://ioc.unesco.org/hab/data1.htm.
The Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP) and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) have developed a standardized
format for their databases on marine invasions of Australia and the U.S., respectively. Each database includes detailed information on hundreds of species. These
two databases are now being linked, as separate database nodes, in the first step
toward creating a distributed international database. When fully operational, data
on exotic species can be obtained from both databases (residing in Australia and
the U.S.) through a single web-based query at one location. The long-term goal is
to establish additional nodes in multiple countries, providing information access
and exchange on an international scale.