Annotated list of marine alien species in the Mediterranean with records of the worst invasive species

By Argyro Zenetos, M. Çınar, M. Pancucci-Papadopoulou, J. Harmelin, G. Furnari, F. Andaloro, N. Bellou, N. Streftaris, H. Zibrowius. 2005

409 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This collaborative effort by many specialists across the Mediterranean presents an updated annotated list of alien marine species in the Mediterranean Sea. Alien species have been grouped into six broad categories namely established, casual, questionable, cryptogenic, excluded and invasive, and presented in lists of major ecofunctional/taxonomic groups. The establishment success within each group is provided while the questionable and excluded records are commented in brief. A total of 963 alien species have been reported from the Mediterranean until December 2005, 218 of which have been classified as excluded (23%) leaving 745 of the recorded species as valid aliens. Of these 385 (52%) are already well established, 262 (35%) are casual records, while 98 species (13%) remain “questionable” records. The species cited in this work belong mostly to zoobenthos and in particular to Mollusca and Crustacea, while Fish and Phytobenthos are the next two groups which prevail among alien biota in the Mediterranean. The available information depends greatly on the taxonomic group examined. Thus, besides the three groups explicitly addressed in the CIESM atlas series (Fish, Decapoda/Crustacea and Mollusca), which are however updated in the present work, Polychaeta, Phytobenthos, Phytoplankton and Zooplankton are also addressed in this study. Among other zoobenthic taxa sufficiently covered in this study are Echinodermata, Sipuncula, Bryozoa and Ascidiacea. On the contrary, taxa such as Foraminifera, Amphipoda and Isopoda, that are not well studied in the Mediterranean, are insufficiently covered. A gap of knowledge is also noticed in Parasites, which, although ubiquitous and pervasive in marine systems, have been relatively unexplored as to their role in marine invasions. Conclusively the lack of funding purely systematic studies in the region has led to underestimation of the number of aliens in the Mediterranean. Emphasis is put on those species that are current or potential threats to the marine ecosystems, namely the Worst Invasive Alien Species providing their record across major groups.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a4ae8ff546003c19e17debb25e2649c266d6e890

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Citations in the corpus

Update of marine alien species in Hellenic waters (2005, neutral): “After a series of scattered publications dealing with single species or groups (KEVREKIDES & GALIL, 2003; CORSINI et al., 2005; ZENETOS et al., 2005; SIMBOURA & ZENETOS, 2005), the first attempt to compile available information on alien species recorded in Hellenic waters is an inventory prepared…”
Alien polychaete species worldwide: current status and their impacts (2012, background): “After re-evaluating the distribution patterns and taxonomic positions of the species, 16 polychaete species were excluded from the alien list of the Mediterranean Sea (see Zenetos et al., 2005).”
Update of alien fauna and new records from Tunisian marine waters (2015, background): “Marine biological invasions are considered a major threat to the biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea (Pancucci et al., 2005; Zenetos et al., 2005; Katsanevakis et al., 2009; Çinar et al., 2011; Zenetos et al., 2012; Bazairi et al., 2013; Evans et al., 2015), affecting habitats and ecosystem…”
Aquatic alien species in Greece (2009): tracking sources, patterns and effects on the ecosystem. (2009, methodology): “Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al. (2005b) have revised previous lists, following the Mediterranean Annotated List of Alien Biota (Zenetos et al., 2005b) inventorying twelve species, two of them as questionable (Cossura coasta and Lysidice collaris).”
Species diversity, taxonomy and distribution of Chondrichthyes in the Mediterranean and Black Sea (2020, background): “…various authors do not exclude that the species may have a stable population in the Mediterranean Sea, though this species is much rarer than the congener Alopias vulpinus (Bonnaterre, 1788), which occurs more frequently in the area (Zenetos et al. 2005, 2008; Clò et al. 2008; Sperone et al. 2018).”
Uncertainties and validation of alien species catalogues: The Mediterranean as an example (2017, background): “Despite the aforementioned problems, several AS lists have been published in the past from the Mediterranean Sea as a whole, among which Galil (2008, 2009), Nunes et al. (2014), and Zenetos et al. (2005, 2008; 2010; 2012) are noteworthy.”
Alien Marine Species in the Mediterranean - the 100 'Worst Invasives' and their Impact (2006, neutral): “…the most recent inventory of marine alien species in the Mediterranean has documented the existence of 745 aliens, out of which 385 are established (ZENETOS et al., 2005), the list of ‘worst IAS’ is expected to increase The impact of the ‘worst IAS’ on socio-economical values is shown graphically…”