A Hitchhiker's guide to Mediterranean marina travel for alien species

Abstract

The seas are currently inundated with many stressors such as overharvesting, eutrophication and pollution, physical alteration of natural habitats, climate change and invasive species which, combined, are negatively affecting both ecosystem structure and function (US National Research Council, 1995; Worm et al., 2006; Jackson, 2008). While many stressors, such as overfishing, have left much of the Mediterranean Sea barren (Guidetti et al., 2014), new species are constantly finding their way into the basin, and some of their preferred habitats are teeming with this ‘foreign’ life. While few of these new migrants have favourable effects on the economy, most are perceived negatively and are often considered as a form of biological pollution (Olenin et al., 2007).