Abstract
The exoskeleton of gastropods provides a convenient surface for carrying marks, and in the interest of improving future marking methods our laboratory assessed the performance of an enamel paint. The endurance of the paint was also compared to other marking methods assessed in the past. We marked the shells of 30 adult Chinese mystery snails Bellamya chinensis and held them in an aquarium for 181 days. We observed no complete degradation of any enamel-paint mark during the 181 days. The enamel-paint mark was superior to a nail-polish mark, which lasted a median of 100 days. Enamel-paint marks also have a lower rate of loss (0.00 month -1 181 days) than plastic bee tags (0.01 month -1 , 57 days), gouache paint (0.07 month -1 , 18.5 days), or car body paint from studies found in scientific literature. Legibility of enamelpaint marks had a median lifetime of 102 days. The use of enamel paint on the shells of gastropods is a viable option for studies lasting up to 6 months. Furthermore, visits to a capture-mark-recapture site 1 year after application of enamel-paint marks on B. chinensis shells produced several individuals on which the enamel paint was still visible, although further testing is required to clarify durability over longer periods.
Highlights
The identification and management of high-value areas (HVAs) require trade-offs between competing economic, environmental, social and cultural needs
This paper describes the initial risk reassessment process to evaluate whether Undaria, an Unwanted Organism, posed a risk to the values in a set of six HVAs identified by Biosecurity New Zealand ( Ministry of Primary Industries)
This paper focuses on New Zealand, as a model system, the threat Undaria poses to HVAs in other countries is apparent and as such the risk method presented is applicable to both Undaria introductions in other countries and introductions of other species
Summary
The identification and management of high-value areas (HVAs) require trade-offs between competing economic, environmental, social and cultural needs. Introduced species are ranked as one of the top five-threats to biodiversity (Lubchenco et al 1991; Mooney and Hobbs 2000) and when coupled with the synergistic effects of climate change (McLachlan et al 2007; Hellmann et al 2008; Rahel and Olden 2008; Rahel et al 2008) it is likely that the threat from introduced species will increase, not diminish This may be true for HVAs that were initially considered “safe” from particular introduced species threats due to environmental and biogeographic constraints including higher diversity related to biotic resistance and isolation from primary invasion points. Our increased understanding of invasion ecology, coupled with the rapidly changing environment, suggests that a re-assessment of the risks posed by introduced species to these areas, and a re-evaluation of the management actions and options to protect such areas from introduced species, is needed (Hewitt and Huxel 2002; Byers 2005; Wyatt et al 2005; Klinger et al 2006; Lewis et al 2004)
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