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Invasion risk posed by macroinvertebrates transported in ships’ ballast tanks

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Abstract

Invasions by non-indigenous macroinvertebrates often cause ecological and economic problems, and commercial ships have been implicated as a principal mechanism for their dispersal. We explored the presence and species diversity of adult macroinvertebrates transported by transoceanic and coastal vessels arriving to ports on the Atlantic coast of Canada. We sampled 67 ballast tanks from 62 ships operating along discrete geographic pathways and tested whether mid-ocean exchange or voyage length affects the probability for translocation of macroinvertebrates. Additionally, we assessed the relationship between macroinvertebrate presence and the amount of sediment in ballast tanks. We document the presence of highly invasive European green crab (Carcinus maenas), mud crab (Rhithropanopeus harrisii), common periwinkle (Littorina littorea), soft shell clam (Mya arenaria) and blue mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) in ballast tanks of surveyed ships. Mid-ocean exchange did not affect macroinvertebrate occurrence, suggesting that current ballast water management regulations are ineffective for this taxonomic group. Viable individuals were recorded in vessels undertaking shorter voyages (average and maximum of 4.5 and 15 days, respectively) and presence was not related to the amount of sediment in tanks. While presence and densities of macroinvertebrates were low, invasion risk may nonetheless be significant during reproductive seasons owing to high fecundity of some taxa. The highest risk may be posed by decapods since gravid females may carry thousands to several million eggs per clutch, and after several weeks of brooding, two or more subsequent clutches may be fertilized by retained sperm from an earlier mating.

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Acknowledgments

We thank participating shipping companies and crews, the Shipping Federation of Canada, multiple port authorities and our sampling team: A.M. Weise, O. Casas-Monroy, N. Simard, J.-Y. Couture, M. Huot, O. Lacasse, D. Humphrey, C.Owens, S. Ross, C.D.A. van Overdijk and Dr. C. McKindsey. We are grateful to R. Tedla, S. Ross and H. Coker for laboratory support and to Dr. M. Cristescu for making available her laboratory resources. Great thanks to Dr. Paul Valentich-Scott for taxonomic assistance, and to Dr. Andrea Locke and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. This research was supported by NSERC’s Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network, Transport Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, by NSERC Discovery Grants to SAB and HJM, and by a DFO Invasive Species Research Chair to HJM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Burlington, ON, L7R 4A6, Canada

    Elizabeta Briski & Sarah A. Bailey

  2. Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada

    Sara Ghabooli & Hugh J. MacIsaac

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  1. Elizabeta Briski
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  2. Sara Ghabooli
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  4. Hugh J. MacIsaac
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Correspondence to Elizabeta Briski.

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Briski, E., Ghabooli, S., Bailey, S.A. et al. Invasion risk posed by macroinvertebrates transported in ships’ ballast tanks. Biol Invasions 14, 1843–1850 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-012-0194-0

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