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Research Interests: Reproduction, Biology, Experimental Design, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and 12 moreSalinity, Laboratory experiment, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, Environmental Conditions, Juvenile, Non native Species, Salinity Tolerance, Growth Model, Indigenous, Coastal Area, and surface temperature
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ABSTRACT Non-indigenous species (NIS) can create significant risks when introduced to foreign ecosystems. One of the many vectors facilitating the global transport of NIS is ballast water, and as commercial shipping increases so does the... more
ABSTRACT Non-indigenous species (NIS) can create significant risks when introduced to foreign ecosystems. One of the many vectors facilitating the global transport of NIS is ballast water, and as commercial shipping increases so does the threat of ballast water-mediated introductions. Despite Canadian regulations, consistent with international guidelines put forth by the International Maritime Organization in the early 1990s, ballast water remains a potential vector for the introduction of many NIS to Canadian marine ecosystems: there have been no new introductions in the Laurentian Great Lakes Region since 2006, yet marine ecosystems continue to see the introduction and establishment of NIS. This paper details and analyzes the development of Canadian ballast water management (BWM), in the context of marine ecosystems, and identifies issues therein. BWM in Canada has a number of management gaps that have persisted since large-scale BWM began in the late 1980s. These include BWM exemptions for vessels not exiting the North American continental shelf, and limitations of effectiveness of mid-ocean exchange as the predominant management method in marine ecosystems. In addition, ballast water regulations for the Canadian Arctic may require additional consideration as the Arctic will likely continue to see an increase in both warming and commercial shipping in the future, thereby increasing the potential risk of NIS. In order to adequately protect all Canadian marine ecosystems, it is recommended that the current BWM regime: fill gaps in management to help prevent further introduction and spread of NIS; focus equally on both marine and freshwater regions, and; look to other aggressive BWM strategies such as those being developed by the state of California.
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Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Molecular Evolution, Biology, Life Sciences, and 15 moreBrackish Water, Medicine, Mitochondrial DNA, Animals, DNA sequence design, Cytochrome c oxidase, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Mollusca, Molecular phylogenetics, Intraspecific Variation, Molecular Marker, Dreissena, DNA sequence, Databases as topic, and DNA Restriction Enzymes
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Page 1. Invasion ecology of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis): a review of evolutionary and phylogenetic impacts Marina I. Orlova1,*, Thomas W. Therriault2, Pavel I. Antonov3 and Gregory Kh. ... (native to America) and the... more
Page 1. Invasion ecology of quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis): a review of evolutionary and phylogenetic impacts Marina I. Orlova1,*, Thomas W. Therriault2, Pavel I. Antonov3 and Gregory Kh. ... (native to America) and the Caspian Dreis-sena (Pontodreissena ...
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Kelp forests are in decline across much of their range due to place‐specific combinations of local and global stressors. Declines in kelp abundance can lead to cascading losses of biodiversity and productivity with far‐reaching ecological... more
Kelp forests are in decline across much of their range due to place‐specific combinations of local and global stressors. Declines in kelp abundance can lead to cascading losses of biodiversity and productivity with far‐reaching ecological and socioeconomic consequences. The Salish Sea is a hotspot of kelp diversity where many species of kelp provide critical habitat and food for commercially, ecologically, and culturally important fish and invertebrate species. However, like other regions, kelp forests in much of the Salish Sea are in rapid decline. Data gaps and limited long‐term monitoring have hampered attempts to identify and manage for specific drivers of decline, despite the documented urgency to protect these important habitats. To address these knowledge gaps, we gathered a focus group of experts on kelp in the Salish Sea to identify perceived direct and indirect stressors facing kelp forests. We then conducted a comprehensive literature review of peer‐reviewed studies from the Salish Sea and temperate coastal ecosystems worldwide to assess the level of support for the pathways identified by the experts, and we identified knowledge gaps to prioritize future research. Our results revealed major research gaps within the Salish Sea and highlighted the potential to use expert knowledge for making informed decisions in the region. We found high support for the pathways in the global literature, with variable consensus on the relationship between stressors and responses across studies, confirming the influence of local ecological, oceanographic, and anthropogenic contexts and threshold effects on stressor–response relationships. Finally, we prioritized areas for future research in the Salish Sea. This study demonstrates the value expert opinion has to inform management decisions. These methods are readily adaptable to other ecosystem management contexts, and the results of this case study can be immediately applied to kelp management.
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AimThe introduction of potentially invasive species remains a global threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The spatial distribution of introduced species can provide insight into present and historical vectors of invasion. Here,... more
AimThe introduction of potentially invasive species remains a global threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The spatial distribution of introduced species can provide insight into present and historical vectors of invasion. Here, we aim to investigate the influence of environmental, demographic and vector variables on the spatial distribution of non‐indigenous species (NIS) in coastal marine ecosystems.LocationCoastal British Columbia, Canada.MethodsWe used subtidal settlement plates to sample NIS richness at 81 sites. Spatial patterns for seventeen environmental, population, and vector variables were created using a Geographic Information System (GIS). We used multiple regression with model selection and spatial autocorrelation to define a statistical model that best explained the spatial distribution of NIS.ResultsFour variables, salinity, human population density, port arrivals and marina propulsiveness (probability of boater travel from home marina), best explained the observed spatial distribution of subtidal NIS. Aquaculture, an original global introduction pathway, did not significantly explain the contemporary distribution of NIS. Results suggest that recreational boating is the most probable pathway of fouling NIS spread in this region, driving their current distribution. Spatial autocorrelation was significant for environmental, demographic, and aquaculture variables. However, marina propulsiveness and attractiveness were not autocorrelated, suggesting that boater behaviour varies on a finer scale.Main conclusionsA simple model using a combination of vector, demographic, and environmental characteristics can explain 43.6% of the variation in the spatial distribution of NIS. Our study provides further evidence that recreational boating is a significant pathway for the contemporary spread of NIS in marine environments. With projected increases in human population, we expect a continued rise in introduction rates and spread in this region and elsewhere in the world.
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Research Interests: Climate Change, Carbon Dioxide, Biology, Ecology, Animal Ecology, and 13 moreBiodiversity, Medicine, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Ocean acidification, Mytilus, Community Structure, Biofouling, Seawater, Aquatic organisms, Interspecific competition, Mussel, and Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Non‐indigenous species (NIS) reach every corner of the world, at times wreaking havoc on ecosystems and costing the global economy billions of dollars. A rapid and accurate biosurveillance tool tailored to a particular biogeographic... more
Non‐indigenous species (NIS) reach every corner of the world, at times wreaking havoc on ecosystems and costing the global economy billions of dollars. A rapid and accurate biosurveillance tool tailored to a particular biogeographic region is needed to detect NIS when they are first introduced into an area as traditional detection methods are expensive and require specialized expertise. Metabarcoding of environmental and community DNA meets those biosurveillance requirements; a novel tool tailored to the Northwest Pacific Ocean is presented here using an approach that could revolutionize early detection of NIS. Eight newly designed genetic markers for multiple gene regions were implemented to meet the stringent taxonomic requirements for the detection of NIS across four major marine phyla. The tool was considered highly successful because it identified 12 known NIS in the study area and a further seven species representing potential new records. Overall community composition detected here was statistically different between substrate types; zooplankton sampling accounted for significantly higher species richness than filtered sea water in most cases, but this was dominated by mollusk and arthropod species. Both substrate types sampled were required to identify the wide taxonomic breadth of known NIS in the study area. Intensive sampling is known to be paramount for the detection of rare species, including new incursions of NIS, thus it is recommended to include diverse DNA sampling protocols based on species’ life‐history characteristics for broad detection capacity. Application of a metabarcoding‐based molecular biosurveillance tool optimized for biogeographic regions enables rapid and accurate early detection across a wide taxonomic range to allow quick implementation of eradication or control efforts and potentially mitigate some of the devastating effects of NIS worldwide.
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A system of small erosional pools formed on the coastal rocks of the Jamaican north shore is home to many invertebrate species. The fauna of the pools comprises a rarely reported mixture of species from both marine and freshwater... more
A system of small erosional pools formed on the coastal rocks of the Jamaican north shore is home to many invertebrate species. The fauna of the pools comprises a rarely reported mixture of species from both marine and freshwater habitats. Turbellarians identified include six species of which two, belonging to the genus Gieysztoria, are new. One species, Gyratrix hermaphroditus, is a habitat generalist and occurs in a number of pools with markedly different physical and morphological characteristics. The other five species have a more restricted distribution and appear to be habitat specialists within the rock pool system. Both temperature and salinity strongly affect the local distribution of microturbellarians. The total number of brackish and freshwater species of microturbellarians reported from the Caribbean islands thus increases to nine, a very low number by comparison to any other geographical area, even a single lake.
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AimWe assess the role of contemporary oceanography and species traits in shaping observed patterns of biogeography over broad spatial scales.LocationOur study domain covers the east and west coasts of North America, from 30° to 73° N on... more
AimWe assess the role of contemporary oceanography and species traits in shaping observed patterns of biogeography over broad spatial scales.LocationOur study domain covers the east and west coasts of North America, from 30° to 73° N on the east coast and 33° to 73° N on the west coast.Time periodHydrodynamic models use climatological fields from 1990 to 2015 on the east coast, and 1993 to 2018 on the west coast.Major taxa studiedModel simulations represent larval dispersal for generalized benthic invertebrate species distributed in the subtidal zone from 10 to 100 m depth, with planktonic larval durations ranging from 21–60 days.MethodsWe conducted a literature review to identify major biogeographic barriers along the east and west coasts of North America, and then assessed the permeability of these barriers to larval dispersal using Lagrangian particle tracking. We ran a series of simulations in which we varied the suitable habitat distribution, planktonic larval duration, and spawning seasonality of simulated larvae (i.e., particles) to assess the effects of species traits on biogeography.ResultsOur results showed a strong alignment of observed biogeographic barriers with larval dispersal patterns, with high variation in barrier permeability depending on the traits of the species considered. The location of suitable habitat and the season during which particle release occurred were the biological traits that drove much of the variation in barrier permeability among simulations on both coasts.Main conclusionsOur results indicate an important role of contemporary oceanographic and geographic features in determining the biogeography of species whose primary dispersal is during larval stages, suggesting that climate change is likely to alter patterns of species biogeography. Our results also demonstrate that species traits play a strong role in determining the location and strength of biogeographic barriers.
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The spread of nonindigenous species by shipping is a large and growing global problem that harms coastal ecosystems and economies and may blur coastal biogeographical patterns. This study coupled eukaryotic environmental DNA (eDNA)... more
The spread of nonindigenous species by shipping is a large and growing global problem that harms coastal ecosystems and economies and may blur coastal biogeographical patterns. This study coupled eukaryotic environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding with dissimilarity regression to test the hypothesis that ship‐borne species spread homogenizes port communities. We first collected and metabarcoded water samples from ports in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. We then calculated community dissimilarities between port pairs and tested for effects of environmental dissimilarity, biogeographical region and four alternative measures of ship‐borne species transport risk. We predicted that higher shipping between ports would decrease community dissimilarity, that the effect of shipping would be small compared to that of environment dissimilarity and shared biogeography, and that more complex shipping risk metrics (which account for ballast water and stepping‐stone spread) would perform b...
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Ports play a central role in our society, but they entail potential environmental risks and stressors that may cause detrimental impacts to both neighboring natural ecosystems and human health. Port managers face multiple challenges to... more
Ports play a central role in our society, but they entail potential environmental risks and stressors that may cause detrimental impacts to both neighboring natural ecosystems and human health. Port managers face multiple challenges to mitigate risks and avoid ecosystem impacts and should recognize that ports are embedded in the wider regional coastal ecosystem. Cumulative impacts of anthropogenic stressors have the potential to further burden the existing suite of natural stressors, particularly where ports are located in embayments and estuaries. Environmental monitoring in ports should thus develop a comprehensive, holistic, multilayered approach integrated in the wider ecosystem that will help managers better achieve sustainable development, a major goal of the United Nations’ 2030 agenda and Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). This practice bridge showcases the experience of the second Canadian Healthy Ocean Network (CHONe2) in Baie des Sept Îles (B...
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Spread of nonindigenous organisms by shipping is one of the largest threats to coastal ecosystems. Limited monitoring and understanding of this phenomenon currently hinder development of effective prevention policies. Surveying ports in... more
Spread of nonindigenous organisms by shipping is one of the largest threats to coastal ecosystems. Limited monitoring and understanding of this phenomenon currently hinder development of effective prevention policies. Surveying ports in North America, South America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia we explored environmental DNA community profiles evident of ship-born species spread. We found that community similarities between ports increased with the number of ship voyages, particularly if the ports had similar environments, and when indirect stepping-stone connections were considered. We also found 57 known non-indigenous taxa, some in hitherto unreported locations. We demonstrate the usefulness of eDNA-based tools for global biodiversity surveys, and highlight that shipping homogenizes biodiversity in predictable that could inform policy and management.