TY - JOUR
T1 - Invasion and current distribution of the octocoral Carijoa riisei (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) in the Ecuadorian coast (eastern tropical pacific)
AU - Cárdenas-Calle, Maritza
AU - Pérez-Correa, Julián
AU - Uzca-Sornoza, Cecilia
AU - Bigatti, Gregorio
AU - Diez, Nardy
AU - Lozada, Mariana
AU - Coronel, Jorge
AU - Herrera, Ileana
AU - Torres, Gladys
AU - De la Cuadra, Telmo
AU - Espinoza, Freddy
AU - Mair, James
AU - Keith, Inti
N1 - Funding Information:
Currently, the Ecuadorian Navy, through the National Directorate of Acuatic Spaces (Dirección Nacional de los Espacios Acuáticos, DIRNEA), is conducting a baseline survey of invasive Spaces in continental and insular Ecuador under funding from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the participation of the Permanent Commission of the South Pacific (CPPS).
Funding Information:
We appreciate the collaboration of Priscila Martínez and Fernando Rivera in the collection of subtidal data during the 2015 period in the framework of the contracting carried out by BIOELITE for the development of this consultancy. IK would like to thank the Galapagos National Park and Galapagos Biosecurity Agency for the ongoing collaboration. Additionally, IK would like to thank Galapagos Conservancy, Lindblad Expedition/National Geographic Fund, Galapagos Conservation Trust, Paul M. Angell Foundation and Ecoventura for research funding provided for the CDF marine invasive species program. This publication is contribution number 2324 of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands and 143 of LARBIM. We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and members of researcher network “Red Interinstitucional para el Estudio de Ecosistemas Acuáticos de Ecuador” (RIEAE) for their valuable comments to improve the manuscript and the Universidad Espíritu Santo for covering the publication fees of this article..
Funding Information:
This work was part of the project “Quantitative subtidal and intertidal marine biodiversity inventories in six marine protected coastal areas and four areas of possible expansion” (CFC-001-2015). The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador (Subsecretaría de Gestión Marina y Costera), the Inter-American Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for financial support.
Publisher Copyright:
© Cárdenas-Calle et al.
PY - 2021/2/15
Y1 - 2021/2/15
N2 - Carijoa riisei is a snowflake coral that has aggressively spread across many coastal habitats in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, threatening a number of tropical ecosystems worldwide, including coral reefs. The aim of this work was to evaluate the distribution and provide an estimation of abundance of the invasive octocoral C. riisei along the Ecuadorian coast, as well as the relationship between its abundance and different environmental variables. In a field survey, high abundances of C. riisei colonies were reported growing over corals and sessile communities at 5 of 43 sampling sites. The areas with highest relative abundance were found in the Manabí province, at two sites in Jama: Bajo Londres (44.57% coverage) and Vaca Brava 1 (20.25%). Results of ordination and grouping statistical analyses showed no significant differences between invaded and not invaded sites as regards community composition or environmental characteristics, suggesting neither biotic nor abiotic factors could be limiting C. riisei dispersal along the Ecuadorian coast. Results from a bibliographic survey covering occurrence data up to 2020 were in accordance, showing that in that period C. riisei became an established species to the Ecuadorian coast, being present in at least 22 of the 43 sites, including various sites in Marine Protected Areas. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to promote urgent monitoring programs to detect C. riisei in new areas along the coast of Ecuador and in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, in order to develop a mitigation program and to take actions to conserve the ecosystems affected by this invasion.
AB - Carijoa riisei is a snowflake coral that has aggressively spread across many coastal habitats in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, threatening a number of tropical ecosystems worldwide, including coral reefs. The aim of this work was to evaluate the distribution and provide an estimation of abundance of the invasive octocoral C. riisei along the Ecuadorian coast, as well as the relationship between its abundance and different environmental variables. In a field survey, high abundances of C. riisei colonies were reported growing over corals and sessile communities at 5 of 43 sampling sites. The areas with highest relative abundance were found in the Manabí province, at two sites in Jama: Bajo Londres (44.57% coverage) and Vaca Brava 1 (20.25%). Results of ordination and grouping statistical analyses showed no significant differences between invaded and not invaded sites as regards community composition or environmental characteristics, suggesting neither biotic nor abiotic factors could be limiting C. riisei dispersal along the Ecuadorian coast. Results from a bibliographic survey covering occurrence data up to 2020 were in accordance, showing that in that period C. riisei became an established species to the Ecuadorian coast, being present in at least 22 of the 43 sites, including various sites in Marine Protected Areas. Based on these findings, recommendations are made to promote urgent monitoring programs to detect C. riisei in new areas along the coast of Ecuador and in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, in order to develop a mitigation program and to take actions to conserve the ecosystems affected by this invasion.
KW - Eastern Pacific
KW - Ecuador
KW - Invasive species
KW - Snowflake coral
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103660319&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3391/ai.2021.16.1.05
DO - 10.3391/ai.2021.16.1.05
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85103660319
SN - 1798-6540
VL - 16
SP - 62
EP - 76
JO - Aquatic Invasions
JF - Aquatic Invasions
IS - 1
ER -