Abstract
The role of two non-indigenous serpulid tube worms in shaping artificial hard substrata communities: case study of a fish farm in the central Mediterranean Sea
Highlights
Non-indigenous species (NIS) are recognised as one of the major threats affecting biodiversity worldwide (Didham et al 2007, Molnar et al 2008) and since the last decade have become one of the focus areas of bioinvasion science (Pyšek & Richardson 2010, Vilà et al 2011, Kumschick et al 2015)
We investigated the role of 2 non-indigenous serpulid tube worms (Hydroides elegans and H. dirampha) in shaping the hard substrata communities around a fish farm in the Strait of Sicily over 1 yr (June 2014–June 2015), at 3 mo intervals (September and December 2014, March and June 2015)
Some authors have recently focused on the study of seasonal non-indigenous species (NIS) succession and macrofouling community development (Lezzi et al 2018, Martell et al 2018), to date, the facilitation processes that regulate the spatial and temporal settlement, growth, population size and features of NIS are poorly known, especially in a Mediterranean context (Galil et al 2018)
Summary
Non-indigenous species (NIS) are recognised as one of the major threats affecting biodiversity worldwide (Didham et al 2007, Molnar et al 2008) and since the last decade have become one of the focus areas of bioinvasion science (Pyšek & Richardson 2010, Vilà et al 2011, Kumschick et al 2015). More attention has been paid to sessile NIS, including a various array of solitary and colonial marine invertebrates (e.g. ascidians, bryozoans, bivalve molluscs, tube-building polychaete worms, sponges, barnacles and sea anemones; Wallentinus & Nyberg 2007, Lezzi et al 2018, Sarà et al 2018a) These organisms shape local metabolic and trophic interactions, by altering the physical or biological environment in the system, they can exert a strong habitat-modifying effect, making it more suitable for some species and less so for others (Stachowicz et al 2002, Floerl et al 2004, Sarà et al 2018a,b). Such information is valuable when setting up modelling exercises (Sarà et al 2018c) or when shaping new regional and cross-border NIS management strategies and plans and, to facilitate the evaluation of risks and impacts associated with future spreading (Ojaveer et al 2015)
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