invasive plant species -Reply
Mary Landin
Ship ballast water has passed around everything from Spartina and
other salt marsh species, mangrove pods, to zebra mussels.
There are documented cases of various species of Spartina getting to
ports of the world where that particular species did not previously occur
(England, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, and the US Pacific
coast are examples), and the most likely cause is ship ballast. It is
fascinating in itself to see the various reactions by countries so invaded:
England herbicides its Spartina invaders to maintain their tidal mudflats
for migratory shorebirds. China propagates it to stabilize sediment,
especially in the Yangtze River system. China has also established a
Spartina Institute so that they can study this new "resource" and its
propagation. At least for the time being, Japan ignores it, and I know of
no official policy in Australia or New Zealand on it. The US Pacific coast
people are studying the invasion of Spartina alterniflora, call it an aquatic
weed, and are trying to eradicate it from their shores. In my opinion, I
believe some of the more hardy Spartina species will become
cosmopolitan (worldwide) over the next 100 years, as Phragmites
australis already has become.
In a study I did for a number of years in San Francisco Bay, on the dikes
around the study site, half the plant species were exotic...some could
have survived marine transport but the other weedy high marsh species
certainly got to California by some artificial means. Spartina alterniflora
has invaded some of their mud flats, but their predominant salt marsh
species remain Spartina foliosa and Salicornia pacifica.
Mary Landin
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mary C. Landin, PhD, Research Biologist
U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station
Ecological Research Division, Environmental Laboratory
3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, Mississippi 39180-6199 USA
phone 601/634-2942; fax 601/634-4016
e-mail: lan...@ex1.wes.army.mil
home page: http://www.wes.army.mil
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>> James SHOTTER <fkz...@ECHIDNA.STU.COWAN.EDU.AU>
04/23/97 12:18am >>>
On 20 Apr 1997, De Lazzari Giovanni wrote:
>
> is there any example reguarding marine species passed from one area
to
> another, especially in the mediterranean? help us. we are students!
> pa...@poboxes.com
>
hello. yes, ship ballast of water contain a variety of organisms; these
are released with the water at various port around the world. That's
how
these coral-eating beasts manage to get about unfortunately. It's quite
unnatural!
I cannot give an example of species..
good luck
regards
james shotter