Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the major drivers of change that can negatively affect biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services and human health; islands are particularly vulnerable to biological invasions. Horizon scanning can lead to Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (
Standardized tools are needed to identify and prioritize the most harmful non-native species (NNS). A plethora of assessment protocols have been developed to evaluate the current and potential impacts of non-native species, but consistency among them has received limited attention. To estimate the consistency across impact assessment protocols, 89 specialists in biological invasions used 11 protocols to screen 57 NNS (2614 assessments). We tested if the consistency in the impact scoring across assessors, quantified as the coefficient of variation (CV), was dependent on the characteristics of the protocol, the taxonomic group and the expertise of the assessor. Mean CV across assessors was 40%, with a maximum of 223%. CV was lower for protocols with a low number of score levels, which demanded high levels of expertise, and when the assessors had greater expertise on the assessed species. The similarity among protocols with respect to the final scores was higher when the protocols considered the same impact types. We conclude that all protocols led to considerable inconsistency among assessors. In order to improve consistency, we highlight the importance of selecting assessors with high expertise, providing clear guidelines and adequate training but also deriving final decisions collaboratively by consensus.
The lionfish, Pterois miles, is one of the most recent Lessepsian immigrants into the Mediterranean Sea, and it poses a serious threat to marine ecosystems in the region. This study assesses the basic biology and ecology of lionfish in the Mediterranean, examining morphometrics, reproduction and diet as well as population structure and distribution. The population density of lionfish has increased dramatically in Cyprus since the first sighting in late 2012; by 2018 aggregations of up to 70 lionfish were found on rocky grounds with complex reefs and artificial reefs in depths of 0-50 m. Lionfish in Cyprus become mature within a year, and adults are capable of spawning year-round, with peak spawning in summer when the sea-surface temperature reaches 28.4 C. The Cypriot lionfish grow faster and bigger than in their native range, and females are more common than males. Lionfish are generalist predators in these waters, as also found in their native range, consuming a range of teleost and crustacean prey, some of which are of high economic value (e.g., Spicara smaris and Sparisoma cretense) or have an important role in local trophic webs (e.g., Chromis chromis). Overall, the reproductive patterns, the presence of juveniles and adults throughout the year, the rapid growth rates and the generalist diet indicate that lionfish are thriving and are now already well established in the region and could potentially become the serious nuisance that they are in their temperate and tropical western Atlantic-invasive range.
In the present article, new records are given for 15 species (4 native and 9 alien and 2 cryptogenic), belonging to 6 Phyla (i.e. Chlorophyta, Ctenophora, Cnidaria, Mollusca, Arthropoda, and Chordata), from 10 Mediterranean countries: Morocco: the finding of the crab Callinectes sapidus represents the westernmost one of the species in the Mediterranean; Italy: first records of the nudibranch Polycera hedgpethi from the harbour of La Spezia, and first finding of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Fiora River; Tunisia: Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla is recorded for the first time, showing an even wider distribution in the Mediterranean; Greece: the finding of the jellyfish Pelagia benovici represents the first record of the species in the Ionian Sea, while the finding of the smallscale codlet Bregmaceros nectabanus in the Ionian Sea is another interesting first report for the area; Malta: the cryptogenic scleractinian coral Oculina patagonica was recorded; Slovenia: the parasitic copepod Demoleus heptapus was recorded from a sixgill bluntnose shark, Hexanchus griseus; Croatia: the Lessepsian cephalaspidean mollusc Haminoea cyanomarginata is recorded for the first time from the area; Bulgaria: the Asian date mussel Arcuatula senhousia was recorded from the Black Sea; Cyprus: the Lessepsian gastropod Viriola sp. [cf. corrugata) was recorded for the first time from the area, while two decapod species were recorded also for the first time from Cyprus, i.e. the caridean shrimp Pasiphaea sivado and the anomuran Munida curvimana; Turkey: the acari Lohmannella falcata is recorded for the first time from Antalya and the Lessepsian fish Priacanthus sagittarius in the Levantine coasts of Turkey (off Hatay/Arsuz) showing that this species has extended its range in a very short time.
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