TITLE: Moderate global ecological impact of exotic species on marine ecosystem
DATE: Nov 22, Wednesday
TIME: 3 pm – 4 pm
LOCATION: Auditorium 0215, between Buildings 2 & 3
BIO: Andrea graduated from the University Complutense of Madrid and studied the lionfish invasion of the Caribbean at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill for her PhD. She studies the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors on the dynamics of coral reefs and seagrass meadows, with a current emphasis on community metabolism and thermal limits in the Red Sea. Her work contributes to our understanding of the effects of global warming, invasive species and pollution on coastal ecosystems.
ABSTRACT: Alien species rank among the most serious ecological and economic threats of the new millennium, as close to half a million species have been relocated into new geographic regions worldwide. The severe impacts on biodiversity of some of the worst terrestrial and freshwater exotic species are well documented while no local or global extinctions have been yet attributed to marine aliens. We performed a global assessment of the ecological effects of marine exotic species, which directly affect 12% of the marine species registered in the IUCN Red List. Our extensive review of the literature produced a quantitative ranking of marine species, detecting the worst exotic species, and identified traits of the exotic species and the recipient communities that result in the greatest ecological impacts. In general, marine exotic species, although of concern, seem to exert a relatively modest impact on native species. The effects summarized here maybe biased toward more strong negative effects, as quantitative analyses of effects of exotic species are generally only initiated when these are suspected or hypothesized, thereby likely targeting the most aggressive marine exotics.