DNA mtCOI Barcodes for Maritime Biosecurity: A Proof of Concept in French Polynesia Ports

Eva Garcia-Vazquez,Alba Ardura,Serge Planes

doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.00179

Abstract

DNA barcodes have been proposed for diverse applications as markers for species identification. One application is not fully explored yet is their use for assessing the species biodiversity and presence of invasive alien species in maritime biosecurity. The phylogeographical signals of mtCOI gene have been sometimes used for inferring the number of introduction hits and the origin of biological invasions. Here we employed mtCOI barcodes of mollusks and acorn barnacles (N=751) from ports of the Windward Island of French Polynesia to infer the effect of port size, maritime traffic and degree of openness in the risk of biological invasions. With 17.2% of non-indigenous species recorded here, significant differences in diversity were found among docks, and between long-time docked ships and their closest piers. A higher proportion of non-indigenous species (NIS) was found from sheltered compared to open ports, regardless their size and traffic. Less frequent wave washing, lower effect of currents and partial isolation in sheltered ports could explain the difference. The results suggest that port biota surveys should focus first on ports sheltered from open sea and emphasize the value of mtCOI barcodes for early detection of potential invasive species, for prioritizing surveillance efforts.

Highlights

More than 90% of global trade goods are transported by ship1
A total of 751 mollusks were identified to species from the French Polynesia ports analyzed and another 30 specimens from ships of Papeete and Vai’are ports
Cheap, and easy technique to inventory biodiversity and detect non-indigenous species (NIS) as well as allowing morphological identifications to be confirmed in the case of cryptic or difficult to classify species (Lara et al, 2010; Williams et al, 2012)

Summary

Introduction

More than 90% of global trade goods are transported by ship. More than 90% of global trade goods are transported by ship1 This means the maritime ports convey most of the world trade traffic together with the organisms attached to the ships or transported in ballast water (Molnar et al, 2008). Ports are the hubs of marine invasions (e.g., Seebens et al, 2013; Bellard et al, 2016), and the factors that enhance their risk of biopollution should be identified as soon as possible. Human population size explains biological invasions better than any other factor (Pyšek et al, 2010), so the size of port cities could increase biopollution risks. Ports located in estuaries—typically of low salinity—may have a higher risk of some biological pollutants, for example, Ponto-Caspian species (Paiva et al, 2018). Suitable environmental conditions, and availability of vectors might be the most effective predictor for the invasibility of brackish water areas and estuaries (e.g., Paavola et al, 2005; Pejovic et al, 2016)

Methods

Results

Conclusion