Background The effects of war on biodiversity,habitats,ecosystem services,and water,seafood,and fishing resources are complex and long-lasting,yet their ongoing environmental analyses are limited.The Russia–Ukraine W...Background The effects of war on biodiversity,habitats,ecosystem services,and water,seafood,and fishing resources are complex and long-lasting,yet their ongoing environmental analyses are limited.The Russia–Ukraine War(2022–present)comprises a unique ecological situation to examine biodiversity effects on the distinctive cold-temperate northern Black Sea ecosystem,which has an intriguing biogeographic history and high endemism resulting from geographic isolation and differentiation.Results We summarize negative and positive effects from the War on the aquatic(marine,estuarine,and freshwater)biota and their habitats,focusing on investigations by the Institute of Marine Biology,National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.Negative effects include toxins and habitat damage from oil spills,shelling,mining,explosions,flooding,and fires;along with disregard of Protected Areas.Positive effects are reduced anthropogenic loads from less shipping,fishing,trawling,recreation,hydraulic engineering,construction,and tourism.The Kakhovka Dam's destruction on June 6,2023 was the greatest ecological catastrophe to date,causing extensive downstream flooding with freshwaters and pollutants that destroyed many populations and habitats.We discern that many effects have been temporary,with habitats and species replenishing,and some reverting to their historical biota characteristic of lower salinity regimes.However,significant habitat destruction,disturbances,and pollutant damages remain.Since many of the native species evolved in conditions favoring broad salinity,temperature,and oxygen tolerances,the northern Black Sea ecosystem appears pre-adapted for ecological recovery and persistence,which may equate to ecological resilience during and after the War.Conclusions The native biota exhibits long-term adaptiveness to marked salinity and temperature fluctuations,alongside a background of invasive species.An evolutionary and recent history of broad environmental tolerances by a large proportion of Black Sea species may enhance their ability to withstand marked environmental changes,including habitat destruction,as during the Kakhovka Dam's breakage and other stressors that continue during the Russia–Ukraine War.The Black Sea community's overall ecological resilience is likely to facilitate persistence and adaptation to the War's effects and the accelerating impacts of climate change,increased global transportation,and invasive species—meriting worldwide conservation agency focus and cooperation.展开更多
Background:Aquatic invertebrate species that have broad salinity tolerances may be pre-adapted for invasion success and biogeographic distributional range expansions,facilitated by human-mediated dispersal(HMD),leadin...Background:Aquatic invertebrate species that have broad salinity tolerances may be pre-adapted for invasion success and biogeographic distributional range expansions,facilitated by human-mediated dispersal(HMD),leading to a trend to become neocosmopolitan across many regions of the world.This pattern appears to characterize many Ponto-Caspian(P-C)aquatic invertebrates,which have a>100-year history as aquatic invasive species(AIS),spreading throughout much of Eurasia and for some,in North America and beyond.Our study compiles comparative salinity conditions and distributional data for AIS invertebrate species globally versus those originating from the P-C region,to test whether they statistically differ.Results:Our investigation discerns that a total of 1861 invertebrate AIS taxa have been recorded worldwide,with(A)70.5%exclusively living in the saline adaptive zone of brackish(0.5-30 ppt;A1)and/or marine waters(>30 ppt;A2),(B)20%in the freshwater adaptive zone alone(0-0.5 ppt),(C)7.5%being euryhaline(across both A and B),and(D)2%being semi-aquatic in either(D1)freshwater/terrestrial or(D2)saline/terrestrial environments.In contrast,our results indicate the following proportions for AIS invertebrates of P-C origins:(A)27%exclusively inhabit the saline adaptive zone,(B)25%are entirely freshwater,(C)45%are euryhaline,and(D)3%are semi-aquatic,significantly differing from the global pattern.Euryhaline AIS native to the P-C region thus markedly outnumber(45%)those originating from other regions(7.5%),likely pre-adapting them for widespread establishment in harbors,estuaries,and coastal areas.Moreover,most P-C invertebrate AIS(70%)contain freshwater-tolerant populations(B+C),rendering them very successful invaders of inland water bodies.These broad salinity tolerances of P-C AIS underlie their tremendous invasion successes and growing neocosmopolitan distributions with HMD.Conclusions:An evolutionary and recent history of broad salinity tolerances of a large proportion of P-C invertebrates appears to enhance their ability to invade,establish,and spread in new regions,especially harbors,estuaries,and freshwaters,leading to their increasing neocosmopolitan distributions.This trend likely will continue-accelerating with climate change and increased global transportation-meriting worldwide conservation agency focus and cooperation,along with public education programs aimed to rapidly identify and circumvent new introductions and spread.展开更多
文摘Background The effects of war on biodiversity,habitats,ecosystem services,and water,seafood,and fishing resources are complex and long-lasting,yet their ongoing environmental analyses are limited.The Russia–Ukraine War(2022–present)comprises a unique ecological situation to examine biodiversity effects on the distinctive cold-temperate northern Black Sea ecosystem,which has an intriguing biogeographic history and high endemism resulting from geographic isolation and differentiation.Results We summarize negative and positive effects from the War on the aquatic(marine,estuarine,and freshwater)biota and their habitats,focusing on investigations by the Institute of Marine Biology,National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.Negative effects include toxins and habitat damage from oil spills,shelling,mining,explosions,flooding,and fires;along with disregard of Protected Areas.Positive effects are reduced anthropogenic loads from less shipping,fishing,trawling,recreation,hydraulic engineering,construction,and tourism.The Kakhovka Dam's destruction on June 6,2023 was the greatest ecological catastrophe to date,causing extensive downstream flooding with freshwaters and pollutants that destroyed many populations and habitats.We discern that many effects have been temporary,with habitats and species replenishing,and some reverting to their historical biota characteristic of lower salinity regimes.However,significant habitat destruction,disturbances,and pollutant damages remain.Since many of the native species evolved in conditions favoring broad salinity,temperature,and oxygen tolerances,the northern Black Sea ecosystem appears pre-adapted for ecological recovery and persistence,which may equate to ecological resilience during and after the War.Conclusions The native biota exhibits long-term adaptiveness to marked salinity and temperature fluctuations,alongside a background of invasive species.An evolutionary and recent history of broad environmental tolerances by a large proportion of Black Sea species may enhance their ability to withstand marked environmental changes,including habitat destruction,as during the Kakhovka Dam's breakage and other stressors that continue during the Russia–Ukraine War.The Black Sea community's overall ecological resilience is likely to facilitate persistence and adaptation to the War's effects and the accelerating impacts of climate change,increased global transportation,and invasive species—meriting worldwide conservation agency focus and cooperation.
文摘Background:Aquatic invertebrate species that have broad salinity tolerances may be pre-adapted for invasion success and biogeographic distributional range expansions,facilitated by human-mediated dispersal(HMD),leading to a trend to become neocosmopolitan across many regions of the world.This pattern appears to characterize many Ponto-Caspian(P-C)aquatic invertebrates,which have a>100-year history as aquatic invasive species(AIS),spreading throughout much of Eurasia and for some,in North America and beyond.Our study compiles comparative salinity conditions and distributional data for AIS invertebrate species globally versus those originating from the P-C region,to test whether they statistically differ.Results:Our investigation discerns that a total of 1861 invertebrate AIS taxa have been recorded worldwide,with(A)70.5%exclusively living in the saline adaptive zone of brackish(0.5-30 ppt;A1)and/or marine waters(>30 ppt;A2),(B)20%in the freshwater adaptive zone alone(0-0.5 ppt),(C)7.5%being euryhaline(across both A and B),and(D)2%being semi-aquatic in either(D1)freshwater/terrestrial or(D2)saline/terrestrial environments.In contrast,our results indicate the following proportions for AIS invertebrates of P-C origins:(A)27%exclusively inhabit the saline adaptive zone,(B)25%are entirely freshwater,(C)45%are euryhaline,and(D)3%are semi-aquatic,significantly differing from the global pattern.Euryhaline AIS native to the P-C region thus markedly outnumber(45%)those originating from other regions(7.5%),likely pre-adapting them for widespread establishment in harbors,estuaries,and coastal areas.Moreover,most P-C invertebrate AIS(70%)contain freshwater-tolerant populations(B+C),rendering them very successful invaders of inland water bodies.These broad salinity tolerances of P-C AIS underlie their tremendous invasion successes and growing neocosmopolitan distributions with HMD.Conclusions:An evolutionary and recent history of broad salinity tolerances of a large proportion of P-C invertebrates appears to enhance their ability to invade,establish,and spread in new regions,especially harbors,estuaries,and freshwaters,leading to their increasing neocosmopolitan distributions.This trend likely will continue-accelerating with climate change and increased global transportation-meriting worldwide conservation agency focus and cooperation,along with public education programs aimed to rapidly identify and circumvent new introductions and spread.
