Did Amphistegina lobifera Larsen reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal?

Merıç, Engin; Yokeş, M. Baki; Avşar, Niyazi; Kıyak, Nafiye Güneç; Öner, Ertuğ; Nazik, Atike; Demirtaşlı, Erdoğan; Dinçer, Feyza; Öztürk, Muhammed Zeynel

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.08.088

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…However, the genetic analysis showed that the population found in Shikmona (Israel) was genetically identical to a population of it living in the Gulf of Elat (Red Sea) [ 45 ]. One of the most invasive alien foraminifer species, Amphistegina lobifera , was found in the core materials from Mersin (Turkey), dated back to 227.3 ± 17.8, ka BP [ 46 ]. Some Indo-Pacific foraminifer species were also found together with the Mediterranean species in the Quaternary sediments collected from the Asi River (Orontes) Delta [ 47 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current status (as of end of 2020) of marine alien species in Turkey

Çınar

Bilecenoğlu

Yokeş³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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The 2020’s update of marine alien species list from Turkey yielded a total of 539 species belonging to 18 taxonomic groups, 404 of which have become established in the region and 135 species are casual. A total of 185 new alien species have been added to the list since the previous update of 2011. The present compilation includes reports of an ascidian species (Rhodosoma turcicum) new to the marine fauna of Turkey and range extensions of six species. Among the established species, 105 species have invasive characters at least in one zoogeographic region, comprising 19% of all alien species. Mollusca ranked first in terms of the number of species (123 species), followed by Foraminifera (91 species), Pisces (80 species) and Arthropoda (79 species). The number of alien species found in seas surrounding Turkey ranged from 28 (Black Sea) to 413 (Levantine Sea). The vectoral importance of the Suez Canal diminishes when moving from south to north, accounting for 72% of species introductions in the Levantine Sea vs. only 11% of species introductions in the Black Sea. Most alien species on the coasts of Turkey were originated from the Red Sea (58%), due to the proximity of the country to the Suez Canal. Shipping activities transported 39% of alien species, mainly from the Indo-Pacific area (20%) and the Atlantic Ocean (10%). Misidentified species (such as Pterois volitans, Trachurus declivis, etc.) and species those classified as questionable or cryptogenic were omitted from the list based on new data gathered in the last decade and expert judgements. The documented impacts of invasive species on socio-economy, biodiversity and human health in the last decade as well as the legislation and management backgrounds against alien species in Turkey are presented.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current status (as of end of 2020) of marine alien species in Turkey

Çınar

Bilecenoğlu

Yokeş³

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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“…While recent geological studies have shown that A. lobifera , at least as a morphospecies, was present in the Mediterranean Sea up until the Middle Pleistocene (Meriç et al ), its modern day presence in the Mediterranean is due to its dispersal in the 20th century through the Suez Canal. There is no evidence to suggest that prehistoric populations of A. lobifera in the Mediterranean persisted into modern times: detailed studies documenting the Mediterranean foraminiferal fauna have been conducted since the 1800s, and no living A. lobifera were detected until the 1950s, even as many very rare foraminifera were reported.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel marine bioinvasion vector: Ichthyochory, live passage through fish

Guy‐Haim

Hyams-Kaphzan

Yeruham

et al. 2017

Limnol Oceanogr Letters

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Many species of Indo-Pacific holobenthic foraminifera have been introduced and successfully established sustainable populations in the Mediterranean Sea over the past few decades. However, known natural and anthropogenic vectors do not explain how these species were introduced long distances from their origin. We present evidence for a novel marine bioinvasion vector explaining this long-distance transport and introduction using both contemporary field and historical analyses. In 2015-2016, we found living specimens of 29 foraminiferal species in the fecal pellets of two Red Sea herbivorous rabbitfish-Siganus rivulatus and Siganus luridus in the Mediterranean. In our historical analysis, we found 34 foraminiferal species in preserved Red Sea rabbitfish specimens, dating between 1967 and 1975. In addition, we found congruent propagation patterns of the non-indigenous rabbitfish and foraminifera, lagging 4-11 yrs between discoveries, respectively. Predation of marine benthos by non-indigenous fish, followed by incomplete digestion and defecation of viable individuals, comprise the main introduction vector of these organisms into novel environments. Author Contribution Statement: The study was conceived by TGH and OHK. TGH led and designed the study. TGH and EY performed the experiments. OHK and AAL conducted the taxonomic analysis. TGH and OHK analyzed the data. TGH, OHK, EY, AAL and JTC developed the conceptual framework and drafted the manuscript. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. Scientific Significance StatementBioinvasions, the expansions of species into regions outside their native range, threaten biodiversity, and human livelihood worldwide. In the sea, international shipping has been considered the primary vector for the introduction of these nonindigenous species, although in many cases the specific vector is not known nor well understood. We present evidence for a novel bioinvasion vector that can explain the appearance and dispersal of dozens of benthic non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean Sea-that of live passage through fish digestive tracts (ichthyochory). This newly identified vector should be considered when evaluating both the history of prior invasions and the potential vectors of future invasions world-wide. 80Limnology and Oceanography Letters 2, 2017, 80-89

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“…The type locality of S. antillarum is in the Caribbean, but here it is shown to also be native to the Mediterranean, where it has a broad distribution. Additionally, the benthic foraminifer Amphistegina lobifera Larsen, 1976, which is currently considered an invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea, occurs both in the Pleistocene (Meriç et al 2016) and at sediment depths slightly deeper than ours within undated sediment cores from Haifa Bay (Stulpinaite et al 2020), suggesting a Holocene age and that the alleged non-indigenous status of this species merits further investigation. We consider it unlikely that these species could have occurred in the basin during the Holocene, become extinct and then been reintroduced through the Suez Canal, as the few extinctions of marine species during the Holocene are directly or indirectly ascribed to human action, and foraminifera are neither associated with direct human pressures nor with cascading effects strong enough to drive them to regional extinction (Dulvy et al 2009).…”

Section: Consequences For the Biogeography Of The Mediterranean Seamentioning

confidence: 77%

“…This result confirms the proposition of Stulpinaite et al (2020) based on undated sediment cores collected off Israel. Further alleged non-indigenous foraminifera were found in sediments dating back from the middle Pleistocene to the Holocene (Meriç et al 2016(Meriç et al , 2018. The assignment of so many allegedly non-indigenous foraminifera species to native status requires a broader reassessment of our knowledge of this group in the Mediterranean Sea.…”

Section: Alleged Non-indigenous Foraminifera Are Nativementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we report the occurrence of tests of benthic foraminifera previously considered non-indigenous in deep sections of sediment cores collected off the Mediterranean coast of Israel and we thus question their non-indigenous status. Similarly, Stulpinaite et al (2020) and Meriç et al (2016Meriç et al ( , 2018 corrected the non-indigenous status of some foraminifera species based on occurrences in pre-Lessepsian (pre-AD 1869) sediments. In order to assess whether our tests are post-Lessepsian, we deployed state-of-the-art radiocarbon techniques to date them individually and ascertain their exact age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alleged Lessepsian foraminifera prove native and suggest Pleistocene range expansions into the Mediterranean Sea

Albano

Sabbatini

Lattanzio

et al. 2022

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Biogeographical patterns are increasingly modified by the human-driven translocation of species, a process that accelerated several centuries ago. Observational datasets, however, rarely range back more than a few decades, implying that a large part of invasion histories went unobserved. Small-sized organisms, like benthic foraminifera, are more likely to have been reported only recently due to their lower detectability compared to larger-sized organisms. Recently detected native species of tropical affinity may have thus been mistaken for non-indigenous species due to the lack of evidence of their occurrence in pre-invasion records. To uncover the unobserved past of the Lessepsian invasion—the entrance of tropical species into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal—we collected sediment cores on the southern Israeli shelf. We deployed state-of-the-art radiocarbon techniques to date 7 individual foraminiferal tests belonging to 5 alleged non-indigenous species and show that they are centuries to millennia old, thus native. Two additional species previously considered non-indigenous occurred in centennial to millennia-old sediments, suggesting their native status. The evidence of multiple tropical foraminiferal species supposed to be non-indigenous but proved native in the eastern Mediterranean suggests either survival in refugia during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.96-5.33 million years) or, more likely, dispersal from the tropical Atlantic and Indo-Pacific during the Pleistocene. In the interglacials of this epoch, higher sea levels may have allowed biological connectivity between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for shallow-water species, showing that the Isthmus of Suez was possibly a more biologically porous barrier than previously considered.

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Did Amphistegina lobifera Larsen reach the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal?

Cited by 15 publications

References 12 publications

Current status (as of end of 2020) of marine alien species in Turkey

Current status (as of end of 2020) of marine alien species in Turkey

A novel marine bioinvasion vector: Ichthyochory, live passage through fish

Alleged Lessepsian foraminifera prove native and suggest Pleistocene range expansions into the Mediterranean Sea

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