Development and validation of a habitat suitability model for the non-indigenous seagrass Zostera japonica in North America

Abstract

In a world where invasive alien species (IAS) are recognised as one of the major threats to biodiversity, leading scientists from five continents have come together to propose the concept of developing an international association for open knowledge and open data on IAS-termed "INVASIVESNET". This new association will facilitate greater understanding and improved management of invasive alien species (IAS) and biological invasions globally, by developing a sustainable network of networks for effective knowledge exchange. In addition to their inclusion in the CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, the increasing ecological, social, cultural and economic impacts associated with IAS have driven the development of multiple legal instruments and policies. This increases the need for greater coordination , cooperation , and information exchange among scientists, management, the community of practice and the public. INVASIVESNET will be formed by linking new and existing networks of interested stakeholders including international and national expert working groups and initiatives, individual scientists, database managers, thematic open access journals, environmental agencies, practitioners, managers, industry, non-government organisations, citizens and educational bodies. The association will develop technical tools and cyberinfrastructure for the collection, management and dissemination of data and information on IAS; create an effective communication platform for global stakeholders; and promote coordination and collaboration through international meetings, workshops, education, training and outreach. To date, the sustainability of many strategic national and international initiatives on IAS have unfortunately been hampered by time-limited grants or funding cycles. Recognising that IAS initiatives need to be globally coordinated and ongoing, we aim to develop a sustainable knowledge sharing association to connect the outputs of IAS research and to inform the consequential management and societal challenges arising from IAS introductions. INVASIVESNET will provide a dynamic and enduring network of networks to ensure the continuity of connections among the IAS community of practice, science and management.

Microbial Community Structure–Function Relationships in Yaquina Bay Estuary Reveal Spatially Distinct Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling Capacities

“…Samples were taken from the top 1 m of the water column at a tidal height of ∼1.8 m near slack current (-0.1 m/s) in both the riverine end-member of the estuary (hereafter, “upper”: 44.58°N, -123.99°W) and the coastal estuary mouth (hereafter, “lower”: 44.62°N, -124.04°W), which are separated by 8 km (Supplementary Figure S1 ). Along with tidal influence, Yaquina River flow was ∼17 m 3 /s (Oregon Water Resources Department, Station ID 14306030), resulting in upper and lower estuary sampling sites that represent differing salinity and nutrient zones during our sampling period ( Brown and Ozretich, 2009 ; Shafer et al, 2016 ). Triplicate 12 L water samples were collected in acid-washed carboys and filtered through in-line 3-μm and 0.22-μm PES membranes (Pall Corporation, Ann Arbor, MI, United States) to recover operationally defined particle-associated and free-living microbial communities, respectively.…”

Seagrass habitat suitability model for Redang Marine Park using multibeam echosounder data: Testing different spatial resolutions and analysis window sizes

“…Due to the seagrass life cycle and threats to seagrass, interval or continuous sampling is needed to produce a temporal (i.e., dynamic) seagrass HSM [ 126 – 129 ]. It is important to examine the distribution of seagrass habitats with a different biology and ecology of seagrass species [ 128 – 131 ]. Thus, further study is needed to produce dynamic HSM models based on the temporal cycle of seagrass habitat.…”

A novel approach to determining dynamic nitrogen thresholds for seagrass conservation

“…This work addresses these limitations by comparing areas of seagrass loss to the nitrogen pressure experienced at those particular areas, making the definition of threshold loads more precise in space while allowing the investigation of timing and duration of exposure. The ASL approach is also based on robust and well‐established transport modelling physics, thus avoiding the complexities of biogeochemical models based on semiempirical process formulations (Baird et al., ), the uncertainties of habitat models based on expert knowledge (Shafer, Swannack, Saltus, Kaldy, & Davis, ), and the limitations of statistical models based on historical observations (Robson, ) (Table ). The approach is conservative, using total nitrogen to calculate loads and neglecting loss processes such as denitrification.…”

“… For an overview of mechanistic and statistical approaches, see Robson (), for an overview of habitat models, see Shafer et al. (). …”