Diseases, pathogens and parasites of Undaria pinnatifida

2.4. MAPPING
The tender document specified a requirement to “map the known distribution of the diseases,
pathogens and parasites which have been recorded”. Fields for longitude and latitude data
were included in the database to enable this information to be extracted quickly from the
database.
3. Results
3.1. GENERAL COMMENTS
3.1.1. Data Sources
Literature Review:
The database includes a total of 927 references of which 549 pertinent papers are included in
the reference list in this report. The Reference list also contains other literature cited in this
report. The breakdown of papers by category is as follows: direct relevance (Laminariales),
91; direct relevance (other algae), 363; generic/review, 70; source of additional references, 25;
irrelevant, 292; unsourced, 86. The 292 entries considered irrelevant include, for example,
papers dealing with epiphytes, saprobic organisms, freshwater, terrestrial and/or microalgae
etc. Only relevant references are cited in the text of this report: the reference list provided lists
all publications scored as ‘relevant’, ‘generic/reviews’ and ‘references only’, as well as papers
cited in the text but not included in the database. The database contains a complete listing of
all papers considered in relation to algal diseases. Some additional papers that were identified
through electronic search engines were discarded based on abstract, keywords or titles.
Electronic search engines cover mainstream journals and publications, generally from the
1970s onwards. A number of the papers relevant to this project fell outside these parameters
i.e. published in the early 20 th century and/or in specialist or limited edition
publications/journals. Although we sought “grey literature” and anticipated there would be
guides and manuals available from marine farming centres or aquaculture institutions, almost
none of this type of literature was forthcoming. Obtaining material from some overseas
sources took much longer than anticipated and was sometimes extremely costly. The database
includes bibliographic information for 87 references which are categorised as “unsourced”.
These include post-graduate theses from outside New Zealand, informal publication of
abstracts from congresses and conferences, and grey literature which we have been unable to
source, particularly from Asian research institutes (Japan, China, Korea).
E-mail and personal contacts:
There was only minor interest generated by our posting in the ALGAE-L list, and of the 14
responses to our email, most did not provide information, but instead were interested in the
outcome of this study and its public availability. Three of the responses provided references,
and one directed us to another potential contact. Additional personal and targeted contacts
yielded only a small amount of additional information, although there was interest in the
results of this study. Initially we had intended to include data from email searches and through
personal contacts (via phone or email) but as these were very few in number and did not
contain new information they were not included.
3.1.2. Mapping
Mapping distribution information obtained through the data sources was determined to be of
limited value. Only 72 of the 927 references (7.7%), or 192 of the more than 2300 agent
entries in the database (~8%) included GIS compatible data (i.e. longitude and latitude) that
8 • Diseases, pathogens and parasites of Undaria pinnatifida MAF Biosecurity New Zealand