The role of recreational marinas in facilitating the impacts of invasive non-native species.

生物多样性正受到一些全球变化驱动因素的威胁，对沿海栖息地产生不利影响。特别令人关注的是外来入侵物种(Inn)的增加，这种物种还在继续增长，没有饱和的迹象。在沿海和河口系统中，休闲码头等水上基础设施是客栈的重要切入点，为客栈随后的传播提供了“垫脚石”的栖息地。因此，客栈在这些地点的存在已被广泛报道，然而，许多与其相关的破坏性生态影响并未得到充分了解，也仍未量化。人们越来越关注码头内客栈的存在，但对相关的生态影响的关注却很少。例如，入侵物种“溢出”到邻近地点的情况还没有得到充分的研究。此外，对于作为本地网络的一部分而存在的码头之间的Inn之间的连通性以及从最初引入地点的二次传播是否会导致孤立的种群从而形成一套独特的特征来支撑适应性和快速种群扩张，人们知之甚少。然而，对于被动移动的客栈来说，比如通过游艇在码头之间移动，这种“特征分类”的发生是未知的。甲壳类被认为是世界上入侵最严重的类群之一，具有一系列有利于成功建立的生活史特征，包括较短的世代时间和广泛的环境耐受性。Caprellidae是一个特别值得注意的群体，体现了这些特征，并支持大量非本地双足类物种。一个这样的例子是全球入侵的日本骷髅虾Caprella mutica，它起源于东北亚，已成为欧洲入侵最快的物种之一。与水上基础设施和栖息地(如漂浮浮桥、系泊绳索和水产养殖网箱)有关的是，现在有大量报告称在英国各地存在松材线虫，其中许多与娱乐码头密切相关。MUTICA于2002年在苏格兰首次被报道，2006年在克莱德河口被记录，然而，人们认为它在此之前就已经存在，但在这个系统中还没有得到深入的研究。在克莱德河口，当地有一个完善的码头网络，支持高度的休闲游艇使用，并与更广泛的苏格兰西海岸地区相连。因此，这为了解码头网络内客栈的入侵以及溢出到邻近栖息地/基础设施的可能性和随后的生态影响提供了机会。与Inns一样，C.mutica被证明具有高度的攻击性，这种行为与繁殖成功和后代存活有关，但尚不清楚这一点在局部(或全球)入侵地点之间有何不同。在这种背景下，了解与影响相关的指标，如不同人群之间的生活史特征和行为差异至关重要，因为它们与Inns影响的已知联系以及对未来入侵的潜在预测能力。在过去的十年中，海洋入侵物种受到了科学家和政策制定者越来越多的关注，但解决其影响的生态学知识落后于其他系统。因此，该项目的目的是调查休闲码头在促进入侵物种的影响方面的作用。通过这样做，我们将阐明潜在的影响机制，提供关于沿海系统中新栖息地和物种入侵相互作用的重要和缺乏的信息。

Biodiversity is under threat from a number of drivers of global change with detrimental implications for coastal habitats. Of particular concern is the increase of invasive nonnative species (INNS), which continues to grow and shows no indication of saturation. In coastal and estuary systems, aquatic infrastructure, such as recreational marinas, are important entry points for INNS, acting as 'stepping-stone' habitats for their subsequent spread. As such the presence of INNS in these locations has been widely reported, however, many of their associated damaging ecological impacts are not fully understood and remain unquantified. There is a growing focus on the presence of INNS in marinas, however limited attention has been made towards the associated ecological impacts. For example, the occurrence of 'spill-over' of invading species into adjacent sites has not been fully explored. Furthermore, little is known regarding the connectivity of INNS between marinas that exist as part of a local network and whether secondary spread from initial introduction sites can lead to isolated populations which develop unique sets of traits that underlie fitness and rapid population expansion. For INNS, however, that have been moved passively, such as between marinas via recreational boating, the occurrence of such 'trait sorting' is unknown. Crustacea are considered one of the world's worst invading taxa, possessing a range of life history traits that are conducive to successful establishment, including short generation time and broad environmental tolerance. Caprellidae are a particular notable group, exemplifying these traits and supporting high numbers of non-native amphipod species. One such example is the globally invasive Japanese skeleton shrimp Caprella mutica, which originates from north-east Asia and has become one of the most rapidly invading species in Europe. Associated with aquatic infrastructure and colonising habitats such as floating pontoons, mooring ropes and aquaculture cages, there are now numerous reports of the presence of C. mutica across the UK, many which are closely linked to recreational marinas. Having been first reported in Scotland in 2002, C. mutica was recorded in the Clyde estuary in 2006, however, it was considered to have been present before this time yet it has not been thoroughly studied within this system. Within the Clyde estuary there exists a local network of well-established marinas supporting a high degree of recreational boat use with connections to the broader Scottish West Coast region. Therefore, this provides an opportunity for understanding the invasion of an INNS within a marina network and the potential for overspill into neighbouring habitats/infrastructure and subsequent ecological impact. As is common with INNS, C. mutica has been shown to be highly aggressive with such behaviour linked to reproductive success and offspring survival, however it is not known how this differs between invaded locations on a local (or global) scale. In this context, understanding metrics related to impact such as differences in life-history traits and behaviour between different populations is vital because of their known links to INNS impact and potential predictive power for future invasions. During the last decade, marine invasive species have received increased attention from both scientists and policy makers, however ecological knowledge to address their impacts lags behind that of other systems. The aim of this project is to therefore investigate the role of recreational marinas in the facilitation of impact of an invasive species. By doing so we will elucidate mechanisms underlying impact, providing vital and lacking information on the interaction of novel habitats and species invasions in coastal systems.