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According to the International Maritime Organization, the agency of the United Nations that is responsible for creating the guidelines, "Under the Convention, all ships in international traffic are required to manage their ballast water and sediments to a certain standard, according to a ship-specific ballast water management plan. All ships will also have to carry a ballast water record book and an international ballast water management certificate. Barge and recreational watercraft moving through Mississippi River locks may also permit invasive carp to move through … Releasing even a few carp into a body of water can become a huge problem. FEATURES After sixty-four days at sea, the ship Arbella, having departed Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, anchored off Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in June 1630. [Extracted from the article]

The extent to which the geographic distributions of marine organisms have been reshaped by human activities remains underappreciated, and so does, consequently, the impact of invasive species on marine ecosystems. The application of molecular genetic data in fields such as population genetics, phylogeography, and evolutionary biology have improved our ability to make inferences regarding invasion histories. Genetic methods have helped to resolve longstanding questions regarding the cryptogenic status of marine species, facilitated recognition of cryptic marine biodiversity, and provided means to determine the sources of introduced marine populations and to begin to recover the patterns of anthropogenic reshuffling of the ocean's biota. These approaches stand to aid materially in the development of effective management strategies and sustainable science-based policies. Continued advancements in the statistical analysis of genetic data promise to overcome some existing limitations of current approaches. Still other limitations will be best addressed by concerted collaborative and multidisciplinary efforts that recognize the important synergy between understanding the extent of biological invasions and coming to a more complete picture of both modern-day and historical marine biogeography.

Abstract Introduced species are an increasing agent of global change. Biogeographic comparisons of introduced biotas at regional and global scales can clarify trends in source regions, invasion pathways, sink regions, and survey effort. We identify the Northeast Pacific Ocean (NEP; northern California to British Columbia) as a model system for analyzing patterns of marine invasion success in cool temperate waters. We review literature and field surveys, documenting 123 introduced invertebrate, algal, fish, and vascular plant species in the NEP. Major invasion pathways were shipping (hull fouling, solid and water ballast; 1500s-present) and shellfish (particularly oysters) and finfish imports (commonest from the 1870s to mid-1900s). The cumulative number of successful invasions over time increased at linear, quadratic, and exponential rates for different taxa, pathways, and regions within the NEP. Regional analysis of four major NEP estuaries showed that Puget Sound and the contiguous Straits had the most introduced species, followed by Humboldt Bay, Coos Bay and Willapa Bay. Data on cumulative shipping volumes predicted smaller-scale, but not larger-scale spatial patterns in the number of shipping-mediated invasions. We identify the major challenges in scaling up from regional to global invasion analysis in cool temperate regions. Retrospective analyses for distinct biogeographic regions such as the NEP provide insight into vector dynamics and regional invasibility, and are a necessary foundation for monitoring and managing global change caused by biotic invasions.

Abstract Biological invasions of marine habitats have been common, and many patterns emerge from the existing literature. In North America, we identify 298 nonindigenous species (NIS) of invertebrates and algae that are established in marine and estuarine waters, generating many "apparent patterns" of invasion: (a) The rate of reported invasions has increased exponentially over the past 200 years; (b) Most NIS are crustaceans and molluscs, while NIS in taxonomic groups dominated by small organisms are rare; (c) Most invasions have resulted from shipping; (d) More NIS are present along the Pacific coast than the Atlantic and Gulf coasts; (e) Native and source regions of NIS differ among coasts, corresponding to trade patterns. The validity of these apparent patterns remains to be tested, because strong bias exists in the data. Overall, the emergent patterns reflect interactive effects of propagule supply, invasion resistance, and sampling bias. Understanding the relative contribution of each component remains a major challenge for invasion ecology and requires standardized, quantitative measures in space and time that we now lack.

The gaps in the fossil record are not liabilities for paleontologists but rather assets for evolutionary and paleoecological studies. The fossil record of rocky shore invertebrates is deemed poor, resulting from the bias of a high energy (physical) environment. The poor fossil record of the Pleistocene rocky shore gastropod Tegula funebralisappears to be no exception to this rule. However, field studies, including experimentally deployed shells in two habitats, reveal five important taphonomic processes that affect the resultant fossil resource for these gastropods: (1) the predilection for Tegulashells by the intertidal hermit crab, Pagurus samuelis, affects the longevity of the shells, (2) hermit crab-occupied shells of Tegulahave a distinct array of bionts distinguishable from the living snail and empty, experimentally tethered shells, (3) biont types on tethered shells differ between two habitats (mudflat and rocky intertidal), and are thus useful for paleoenvironmental determinations, (4) physical processes greatly affected intact shell longevity of experimental shells at the rocky intertidal site, whereas at the mudflat site, mistaken predation by durophagous crabs was the most important agent of shell destruction, and (5) despite these taphonomic losses, the Pleistocene fossil record of Tegularetains a good record of the biological factors that affect its preservation, that of pagurid crustaceans and their gastropod shell-associated bionts. Taphonomic losses when viewed from a hierarchy of shell users, then, are gains in biological information that indicate the level of complexity within the shell-using community, and this record is not completely lost in high energy regimes.

1. Crangon handi, new species. is described and compared with five other California crangonid shrimps; it occurs from the littoral zone to 55 m from Sonoma County to Bahia Colnett. northern Baja California. Crangon handiis a specialist for shallow-water coarse sand substrates and here exhibits remarkable crypsis. Crangon handieats small gammarid amphipods and has in turn been found in the stomach of the thornback skate.2. Lissocrangon, new genus, is proposed to accomodate C. stylirostris, a species lacking gastric spination; Crangonis restricted to shrimp with one gastric spine; SteiracrangonKinahan, is revived for shrimp with bicarinate sixth abdominal segments; and NeocrangonZarenkov is revised and amended to include shrimp with two gastric spines and bicarinate sixth abdominal segments.3. Morphological analyses and relative growth are presented and discussed for all six crangonids considered. Crangon handiand L. stylirostrisare squat shrimps in restricted habitats probably adapted for short quick bursts of movement followed by rapid reburial: the remaining four species are relatively elongate and habitat generalists.4. Crangonspecies normally occurring on finer mud and sand bottoms are unable to achieve the degree of crypsis of the coarse-grained species, Crangon handi. Crangon handifrom dark coarse-grained sediments is only partially able to adapt to light coarse-grained sediments.5. Crangon nigromaculatais the only species with a lateral color spot, and it is suggested that this may serve as a predator shock signal or target decoy analogous to similar markings in some fish.6. Fish, such as cottids, and macrocrustaceans, including C. handiand the sphaeromatid isopod, Tecticeps convexus, sympatric with it on coarse sand bottoms, exhibit a wide range of mechanisms apparently to escape detection and avoid predation. Tecticepsalone has at least six such mechanisms. This suggests that predation pressure in such habitats may be relatively high.

The gaps in the fossil record are not liabilities for paleontologists but rather assets for evolutionary and paleoecological studies. The fossil record of rocky shore invertebrates is deemed poor, resulting from the bias of a high energy (physical) environment. The poor fossil record of the Pleistocene rocky shore gastropod Tegula funebralis appears to be no exception to this rule. However, field studies, including experimentally deployed shells in two habitats, reveal five important taphonomic processes that affect the resultant fossil resource for these gastropods: (1) the predilection for Tegula shells by the intertidal hermit crab, Pagurus samuelis, affects the longevity of the shells, (2) hermit crab-occupied shells of Tegula have a distinct array of bionts distinguishable from the living snail and empty, experimentally tethered shells, (3) biont types on tethered shells differ between two habitats (mudflat and rocky intertidal), and are thus useful for paleoenvironmental determinations, (4) physical processes greatly affected intact shell longevity of experimental shells at the rocky intertidal site, whereas at the mudflat site, mistaken predation by durophagous crabs was the most important agent of shell destruction, and (5) despite these taphonomic losses, the Pleistocene fossil record of Tegula retains a good record of the biological factors that affect its preservation, that of pagurid crustaceans and their gastropod shell-associated bionts. Taphonomic losses when viewed from a hierarchy of shell users, then, are gains in biological information that indicate the level of complexity within the shell-using community, and this record is not completely lost in high energy regimes.

Reports on the increase of biological invasions in various freshwater and marine ports caused by the release of water from ballast tanks and ballasted cargo holds of ocean-going ships. Cases of biological invasions in several parts of the world; Canadian government's 198 voluntary guidelines to reduce the amount of freshwater ballast released in the Great Lakes; More.

Abstract. Predation on kamptozoans (phylum Kamptozoa = Entoprocta) is not mentioned in any literature on the phylum. We have found a plagiostomid turbellarian flatworm (Plagios‐tomumsp.) preying upon Barentsia benedeniin an estuarine sublittoral fouling community in Long Island Sound, USA. Previous records of predation on kamptozoans by nudibranch opis‐thobranchs (sea slugs) are reviewed. Predation on kamptozoans by some members of two phyla, Mollusca and Platyhelminthes, is thus now known.

Historical or recent extinctions (here called neoextinctions) are rarely reported among marine and estuarine invertebrates. Four case histories of neoextinctions, using gastropod mollusks (snails) as examples, are reviewed: the periwinkle Littoraria flammea (last collected < 1840 in China), the rocky shore limpet “Colliselld” edmitchelli (1861/3 in southern California), the eelgrass limpet Lottia alveus (1929 in Maine), and the marsh horn snail Cerithidea fuscata (1935, southern California) are all probably extinct. The central element in the demise of all four species may have been a vulnerable, extinguishable habitat. Three considerations suggest that neoextinctions among marine invertebrates have been generally overlooked: 1), hundreds of taxa have not been reported since the 18th and 19th centuries (these are treated by systematists as either unrecognizable, rare, or synonyms of known species); 2), species may have become extinct prior to their description; and 3), there has been a precipitous decline in systematics, biogeography, and natural history at the end of the 20th century—leaving too few workers to tell the story of neoextinction in the ocean. Searches in the literature and museums for overlooked neoextinctions would fruitfully focus on species reported from highly impacted, urbanized coastal habitats—saltmarshes, estuaries, lagoons, seagrass communities, and supralittoral (maritime) zones—habitats now largely obliterated on most coastal margins of the world.

Non-indigenous species (NIS) are increasingly conspicuous in marine and estuarine habitats throughout the world, as the number, variety, and effects of these species continue to accrue. Most of these NIS invasions result from anthropogenic dispersal. Although the relative importance of different dispersal mechanisms varies both spatially and temporally, the global movement of ballast water by ships appears to be the largest single vector for NIS transfer today, andmany recent invasions have resulted from this transfer. The rate of new invasions may have increased in recent decades, perhaps due to changes in ballast water transport. Estuaries have been especially common sites of invasions, accumulating from tens to hundreds of NIS per estuary that include most major taxonomic and trophic groups. We now know of approximately 400 NIS along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S., and hundreds of marine and estuarine NIS are reported from other regions of the world. Although available information about invasions is limited to a few regions and underestimates the actual number of NIS invasions, there are apparent differences in the frequency of NIS among sites. Mechanisms responsible for observed patterns among sites likely include variation in supply of NIS, and perhaps variation in properties of recipient or donor communities,but the role of these mechanisms has not been tested. Although our present knowledge about the extent, patterns and mechanisms of marine invasions is still in its infancy, it is clear that NIS are a significant force of change in marine and especially estuarine communities globally. Taxonomically diverse NIS are having significant effects on many, if not most, estuaries that fundamentally alter population, community, and ecosystems processes. The impacts of most NIS remain unknown, and the predictability of their direct and indirect effects remains uncertain. Nonetheless, based upon the documented extent of NIS invasions and scope of then effects, studies of marine communities that do not include NIS are increasingly incomplete