With increased human movement across the globe comes the increased risk of transporting exotic species, which may establish and disrupt local native communities. In marine environments, boats are frequent vectors for the movement of exotic species, which often get transported across regions in ship’s ballast water, as has occurred with invasive Zebra mussels in North American great lakes.
Masters student Sofia Tschijevski from Ruhr University in Germany was interested in investigating the native and invasive plant and animal biodiversity along the shore and man-made structures of Sydney harbour, Australia. Following surveys of the region, she found that the subtidal harbour regions supported overall higher biodiversity than the intertidal region, but additionally had intermediate proportions of invasive species. By contrast, no invasive species were documented in the intertidal zone, even on these man-made structures. The invasive species in the subtidal zone are likely occupying valuable habitat at the exclusion of native species. Sofia will be switching gears in the near future to examine how lawn mowing frequency influences the diversity of ground beetle and mammal species. You can read more about Sofia’s work here or email her with any questions.
Featured image: Masters student Sofia Tschijevski from Ruhr University in Germany presents her research at the 2019 Evolution meeting in Providence, RI.
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