Molecular Ecology of Marine Invasions

Abstract

Biological invasions are the establishment of populations of species in regions where they were formerly absent. Recent studies have shown that marine invasions have dramatically increased in the past several decades (Carlton and Geller 1993, Cohen and Carlton 1995). However, only in the past few years have the ecological consequences of invasions been carefully studied (e.g., Brenchley and Carlton 1983, Bertness 1984, Carlton 1989, Carlton et al. 1990, Shushkina and Musayeva 1990, Carlton and Geller 1993, Nalepa and Schloesser 1993, Grosholz and Ruiz 1995). Some examples of invasions which have had profound ecolgical impacts include the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha in the Great Lakes (Hebert et al. 1989), the Asian clam Potomocorbula amurensis (Carlton et al. 1990), the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Black Sea (Vinogradov et al. 1989) among others. The U.S. National Research Council has recognized marine invasions as one of five major threats to biodiversity (NRC 1995).