Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Theme 1 What is environmental biology?
- Theme 2 The scientific method and the unifying theories of modern biology
- Theme 3 Applying scientific method – understanding biodiversity
- Theme 4 Applying scientific method – biodiversity and the environment
- 16 Boom and bust – population ecology
- 17 Living together – communities and ecosystems
- 18 Marine habitats
- 19 Marine lifestyles
- 20 Inland aquatic environments I – wetland diversity and physical and chemical processes
- 21 Inland aquatic environments II – the ecology of lentic and lotic waters
- 22 Terrestrial habitats
- 23 Terrestrial lifestyles
- Theme 5 The future – applying scientific method to conserving biodiversity and restoring degraded environments
- Glossary
- Index
19 - Marine lifestyles
from Theme 4 - Applying scientific method – biodiversity and the environment
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Theme 1 What is environmental biology?
- Theme 2 The scientific method and the unifying theories of modern biology
- Theme 3 Applying scientific method – understanding biodiversity
- Theme 4 Applying scientific method – biodiversity and the environment
- 16 Boom and bust – population ecology
- 17 Living together – communities and ecosystems
- 18 Marine habitats
- 19 Marine lifestyles
- 20 Inland aquatic environments I – wetland diversity and physical and chemical processes
- 21 Inland aquatic environments II – the ecology of lentic and lotic waters
- 22 Terrestrial habitats
- 23 Terrestrial lifestyles
- Theme 5 The future – applying scientific method to conserving biodiversity and restoring degraded environments
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
The hitchhiker's guide to the oceans
Shipping practices rewrote the travel guides for many marine organisms because many of them are well suited to producing stowaways, forming exotic populations far beyond their normal ranges. With increased shipping to Australia, marine creatures that have never lived here before are arriving as dispersive spores or larvae in ships' ballast water or directly as adults attached to their hulls.
Luckily, not all introduced marine species are harmful and only half a dozen or so are true pests. They range from several toxic dinoflagellates (planktonic creatures secreting poisons) to tube worms, macroalgae and sea stars. Many pests successfully compete for substrate or food used by native creatures. For example, the European fan worm (Sabella spallanzanii) fouls hard surfaces and commercial oyster beds, competing with native animals for food in the water column. The northern Pacific sea star (Asterias amurensis) is a voracious predator, eating many native animals including commercial and non-commercial shellfish.
How did these creatures become pests? The answer is quite simple. The Earth's oceans have two temperate regions, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, divided by warm equatorial waters. The warm water around the equator is a natural barrier to migration. First, it is warm and may exceed the temperature tolerances of the cool-temperate organisms and secondly the surface ocean currents are restricted to each hemisphere with limited exchange between them.
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- Environmental Biology , pp. 431 - 451Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009