Aquatic invasive species harming U.S. ecosystems, fisheries

Abstract

Biological invasions are fundamentally changing the structure and function of many ecosystems around the world, Gregory Ruiz, senior scientist with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland, told a 20 June U.S. Congressional hearing on aquatic invasive species.“Not only have many [nuisance aquatic species] become established, but many communities are now dominated by [them] in terms of number or organisms, biomass, and ecological processes,” Ruiz said. “In some cases, it is clear that invasions have caused dramatic shifts in food webs, chemical cycling, disease outbreaks, and commercial fisheries.”