Shipping and the contribution of non-native invertebrate species for soft-bottom communities

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Areglado, Flávia Maria Pereira da Costa
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: água de lastro; anthropogenic species distribution; ballast water; bioinvasions; bioinvasões; distribuição antropogênica de espécies; gestão e policiamento; management and policy
• Link de acesso: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/21/21134/tde-04102024-142343/

Ships are the main vectors for the introduction of non-native species worldwide and ballast water has been identi ed as the main sub vector. Our understanding of organisms transported in ballast water is largely focused on phytoplankton and holo-zooplankton. Other groups, such as those that include species that remain only a period of their life cycle in the water column, are still poorly studied. Most studies on marine bioinvasions have focused on hard substrates, particularly on arti cial structures in docks and marinas. Despite existing regulations on ballast water, the establishment of non-native species is increasing at an unknown rate in many areas due to the lack of biological data. This is especially true for species that may cause damage that is not obvious at rst. Considering marine shipping as the main means of introducing species, the expansion of global maritime tra c and the increase in the number of new species occurrences worldwide, the present study aims to analyze the distribution of non-native invertebrate species from soft-bottom communities in ballast water and sediments originating from various parts of the world. This work provides robust evidence to the importance of assessing vectors in situ.