31 Chapter

Figure 26.8_Coasts and Estuaries_The Future

Alien Species Invasion:

Case Study of the Black Sea.

Nickolai Shalovenkov, the Centre for Ecological Studies 

In the book: Coasts and Estuaries. The Future.

*Editors: Eric WolanskiJohn DayMike ElliottRamachandran Ramesh

Abstract.

The Mediterranean Sea is the main transit corridor for the invasion of alien species in the Black Sea. There is a high level of differentiation in the composition of alien species between different areas of the Black Sea. Temporal temperature and salinity gradients forming hydrological fronts are peculiar barriers that restrict the exchange of alien species between sea areas. Differences of the number of alien species between the western and eastern regions corresponded to different levels of sea traffic in the Black Sea. The high correlation between the number of alien species and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index indicates that the climate influences the process of invasion, facilitating the increase in the number of alien and Mediterranean species in the Black Sea. The Mediterranean Sea can be considered a kind of “storage” for alien species that can then be transported with ballast water to the Black Sea. It is important to use such scientific findings to further develop international legislative directives for the protection of marine ecosystems from bio-invasions.

CONTENT 

1 INTRODUCTION

2  ALIEN SPECIES INVASION OF THE BLACK SEA

2.1  Phytoplankton Alien Species

2.2  Zooplankton Alien Species

2.2  Zooplankton Alien Species

2.3  Zoobenthos Alien Species

2.4  Fish Alien Species

3  GRADIENTS OF TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY AS ECOLOGICAL BARRIERS

4  LARGE-SCALE CURRENTS AND ALIEN SPECIES

5  TRENDS OF INVASION OF ALIEN SPECIES

6  INVASIVE CORRIDORS OF THE BLACK SEA BASIN

6.1  The Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Corridors

6.2  Ponto-Caspian Corridor

7  INVASIONS OF ALIEN SPECIES IN THE BLACK SEA—THE FUTURE

*Professor Eric Wolanski is an estuarine oceanographer at James Cook University and the Australian Institute of Marine Scienc.

Professor John Day is an Emeritus Professor at the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University.

Professor Michael Elliott is the Director of the Institute of Estuarine & Coastal Studies (IECS) and Professor of Estuarine and Coastal Sciences at the University of Hull, U.K.

PhD Ramachandran Ramesh’s, Environmental Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and in Marine Sciences from the McGill University, Canada.