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Alien species in the Mediterranean Sea—which, when, where, why?

  • CHALLENGES TO MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
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Abstract

A critical evaluation of more than 2,200 publications, some dating back to the late 1800s, established the presence, and traced the spatio-temporal spread, of 558 alien metazoan species in the Mediterranean Sea. The majority of aliens in the eastern Mediterranean entered through the Suez Canal, whereas mariculture and shipping are powerful means of introduction in the northwestern Mediterranean and in the Adriatic Sea. Most aliens are thermophilic species. The possible causes for the epic scale of invasion in the Mediterranean Sea are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to my colleagues, C. Bogi, M. Çinar, J. Corbera, R. Huys, H. Mienis, F. Mineur, A. Occhipinti-Ambrogi, P. Schembri, M. Verlaque, and B. Yokes, for generously sharing with me information on alien species. M. Cooper, L. Shoval, and S. Usvyatsov provided much-needed help throughout the project. Special thanks to the librarians of the American Museum of Natural History, New York; and Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, Haifa. This review was supported by the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme DAISIE (contract SSPI-CT-2003-511202).

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  1. National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, P.O. Box 8030, Haifa, 31080, Israel

    B. S. Galil

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Guest editors: J. Davenport, G. Burnell, T. Cross, M. Emmerson, R. McAllen, R. Ramsay & E. Rogan

Challenges to Marine Ecosystems

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Galil, B.S. Alien species in the Mediterranean Sea—which, when, where, why?. Hydrobiologia 606, 105–116 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9342-z

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