Alien species in the Mediterranean Sea by 2010. A contribution to the application of European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Part I. Spatial distribution

By Argyro Zenetos, S. Gofas, M. Verlaque, M. Çınar, J. Raso, C. Bianchi, C. Morri, E. Azzurro, M. Bilecenoğlu, C. Froglia and 13 more. 2010

699 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The state-of-art on alien species in the Mediterranean Sea is presented, making distinctions among the four subregions defined in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive: (i) the Western Mediterranean Sea (WMED); (ii) the Central Mediterranean Sea (CMED); (iii) the Adriatic Sea (ADRIA); and (iv) the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMED). The updated checklist (December 2010) of marine alien species within each subregion, along with their acclimatization status and origin, is provided. A total of 955 alien species is known in the Mediterranean, the vast majority of them having being introduced in the EMED (718), less in the WMED (328) and CMED (267) and least in the Adriatic (171). Of these, 535 species (56%) are established in at least one area. Despite the collective effort of experts who attempted in this work, the number of introduced species remains probably underestimated. Excluding microalgae, for which knowledge is still insufficient, aliens have increased the total species richness of the Mediterranean Sea by 5.9%. This figure should not be directly read as an indication of higher biodiversity, as spreading of so many aliens within the basin is possibly causing biotic homogenization. Thermophilic species, i.e. Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Tropical Atlantic, Tropical Pacific, and circum(sub)tropical, account for 88.4% of the introduced species in the EMED, 72.8% in the CMED, 59.3% in the WMED and 56.1% in the Adriatic. Cold water species, i.e. circumboreal, N Atlantic, and N Pacific, make up a small percentage of the introduced species, ranging between 4.2% and 21.6% and being more numerous in the Adriatic and less so in the EMED. Species that are classified as invasive or potentially invasive are 134 in the whole of the Mediterranean: 108 are present in the EMED, 76 in the CMED, 53 in the Adriatic and 64 in the WMED. The WMED hosts most invasive macrophytes, whereas the EMED has the lion’s share in polychaetes, crustaceans, molluscs and fish.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/612206b45434da1abbebd6e67faca992927232c2

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Citations in the corpus

Invading the Mediterranean Sea: biodiversity patterns shaped by human activities (2014, background): “Nearly 1000 marine alien species have been introduced in the Mediterranean up to now, of which more than half are considered to be established and spreading (Zenetos et al., 2010, 2012).”
Mapping the impact of alien species on marine ecosystems: the Mediterranean Sea case study (2016, background): “Among the nearly 1000 alien and cryptogenic species so far reported for the Mediterranean Sea (Zenetos et al., 2012), impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services have been documented for only 60 species (review by Katsanevakis et al.”
Ecosystem-based marine spatial management: Review of concepts, policies, tools, and critical issues (2011, background): “…and loss of goods and services are among the effects of climate change in the marine environment (Bianchi, 2007; Drinkwater et al., 2010; Harley et al., 2006; IPCC, 2007; Occhipinti-Ambrogi, 2007; Parmesan and Yohe, 2003; Perry et al., 2005; Rosenzweig et al., 2008; Zenetos et al., 2010).”
Marine alien species in Greek Seas: Additions and amendments by 2010 (2011, background): “Following ZENETOS et al. (2010) we have classified it as cryptogenic.”
New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (October 2015) (2015, background): “…crab species have been recorded from the Mediterranean, but only two - Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 and Portunus segnis (Forsskål in Niebuhr, 1775) (Malacostraca: Decapoda: Portunidae) - have records spanning the western, central and eastern Mediterranean region (see Zenetos et al., 2010).”
New Mediterranean Biodiversity Records (July, 2017) (2017, neutral): “, 2015), but given that the species’ juveniles are usually pelagic and are found associated with floating objects (Knudsen & Clements, 2016), its introduction should possibly be attributed to natural range expansion rather than dispersal due to human activities (Zenetos et al., 2012).”
An updated review of alien species on the coasts of Turkey (2011, background): “The definition of the terms can be found in ZENETOS et al. (2010b).”
Update of alien fauna and new records from Tunisian marine waters (2015, methodology): “Following the last inventory of Mediterranean alien spe- cies (Zenetos et al., 2010) and new added records (Zenetos et al., 2012; Siokou et al., 2013; Bilecenoglu et al., 2013) more than 1000 alien species are listed.”
The top 27 animal alien species introduced into Europe for aquaculture and related activities (2010, background): “A common statement is that species globalization and human mediated xenodiversity (sensu Leppäkoski et al., 2002) are caused by the new millennium economic policy (Leppäkoski and Olenin, 2000; Carlton, 2002; Occhipinti-Ambrogi and Savini, 2003; Galil, 2008).”
Alien polychaete species worldwide: current status and their impacts (2012, background): “…(Verrill, 1900) W Atlantic Mediterranean A E Blake & Giangrande (2011) Haploscoloplos kerguelensis McIntosh, 1885 Antarctic Mediterranean Sh Q Zenetos et al. (2010) Scolaricia capensis Day, 1961 South Africa India Sh E Subba Rao (2005) SPIONIDAE Apoprionospio pygmaea (Hartman, 1955) Pacific…”
Decline and local extinction of Fucales in French Riviera: the harbinger of future extinctions? (2014, neutral): “…worldwide shipping and tourism and the highest rate of biological invasions (e.g. Bianchi & Mor-ri, 2000; Galil, 2000; Boudouresque & Verlaque, 2002; Panayotidis et al., 2004; Lotze et al., 2006; Coll et al., 2010; Lejeusne et al., 2010; Zenetos et al., 2010; UNEP/ MAP, 2012; Bianchi et al., 2014).”
Species diversity, taxonomy and distribution of Chondrichthyes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea (2020, background): “…the strong fishing pressure has led to local species depletion or even extinctions (Ferretti et al. 2008, 2013), the arrivals of new species through the Suez Canal, especially of Indo-Pacific origin, is increasing species richness in the eastern basin (Golani et al. 2002; Zenetos et al. 2010).”
Alien species in the Mediterranean Sea by 2012. A contribution to the application of European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Part 2. Introduction trends and pathways (2012, methodology): “Such is the case for the invasive opistobranch Aplysia dactylomela currently established in the EMED, CMED and ADRIA (Zenetos et al. , 2010); its latest record is from Montenegro (Kljajić & Mačić in Thessalou-Legaki et al. , 2012).”