Jackson Estuarine Laboratory
Abstract
In his seminal book on The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants, Elton (1958) laid the foundation for the science of biological invasions. He identified the importance of human-mediated vectors as means of transporting organisms to new locations and discussed invasions in the context of ecological impacts and evolutionary consequences. Elton even identified what needed to be done to prevent practical and ecological damages from invaders--keep them out, eradicate them, and if all else fails, manage them at acceptable levels. We have not been vigilant in applying this knowledge to marine ecosystems, although this is changing. Our ability to detect changes in numbers and rate of marine introductions depends on well-documented lists of species in time and space, appropriate identification of non-native species, and careful records that follow changes in nomenclature, distribution, potential vectors, and ecosystem alterations caused by non-native species.
Publication Date
1-1-2005
Journal Title
MIT Sea Grant Technical Reports
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sea Grant College Program
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Pederson, J., R. Bullock, J. Carlton, J. Dijkstra, N. Dobroski, P. Dyrynda, R. Fisher, L. Harris, N. Hobbs, G. Lambert, E. Lazo-Wasem, A. Mathieson, M. Miglieta, J. Smith, J. Smith III and M. Tyrrell. 2005. Marine Invaders in the Northeast: Rapid Assessment Survey of Non-Native and Native Marine Species of Floating Dock Communities, August 2003. Report of the August 3-9, 2003 Survey. MIT Sea Grant College Program, Cambridge, MA, 40 pp.
Comments
This is an article published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology in MIT Sea Grant Technical Reports, in 2005, available online: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97032