Invasion risk of active and diapausing invertebrates from residual ballast in ships entering Chesapeake Bay

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 324:57-66 (2006) - doi:10.3354/meps324057 Invasion risk of active and diapausing invertebrates from residual ballast in ships entering Chesapeake Bay Ian C. Duggan1,*, Sarah A. Bailey2, Colin D. A. van Overdijk2, Hugh J. MacIsaac2 1Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand 2Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, The University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada *Email: i.duggan@waikato.ac.nz ABSTRACT: We examined the invasion risk posed by active invertebrates and their diapausing stages (e.g. resting eggs, quiescent adults) carried in residual sediment and water of non-ballasted ships to Chesapeake Bay. Many taxa were recorded that are not native to Chesapeake Bay, supporting the contention that residual ballast represents an invasion vector of some risk to marine systems. Composition and propagule supply differed relative to that in ships entering the Laurentian Great Lakes (e.g. marine taxa dominated in Chesapeake Bay ships), indicating that risk varies geographically. Average abundances of active invertebrates in residual sediment (1002.1 ind. kg–1) and water (2.7 ind. l–1), and diapausing eggs in sediments (779.4 eggs kg–1), were typically low relative to those in ships entering the Great Lakes (1322.5 ind. kg–1, 10.9 ind. l–1 and 3650.0 eggs kg–1, respectively). However, due to high variability among ships, differences were not statistically significant. The major cause of composition and abundance differences is dissimilar trade routes between each system, with vessels entering Chesapeake Bay primarily originating from marine rather than freshwater ports, and because diapausing stages are less commonly found among marine invertebrates. Low propagule supplies, predominant intra-continental ship movements, and salinity disparity between the upper (20 to 28‰) and lower (3 to 8‰) regions of Chesapeake Bay (where ballast water is loaded and offloaded) may greatly reduce invasion risk and be a contributing factor to the bay’s low invasion rate: invasion risk from non-ballasted ships here may be low relative to hull fouling or ballast water discharge. Other marine coastal areas may be at greater risk from this vector. KEY WORDS: Ballast sediments · Nonindigenous species · Great Lakes · Resting eggs · NOBOB vessels Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 324. Online publication date: October 23, 2006 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2006 Inter-Research.