PAT-UC Covers - California Sea Grant - UC San Diego

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Aquatic Nuisance Species Stemming the Tide of Invasions Many species living along the coast are not native to California. They have hitchhiked in ballast tanks, on ships’ hulls, and by other means from distant lands. Although most of these introduced species quickly die, a distressing fact is that many thrive. The accelerating pace of introductions – and failure to control their spread – is cause for great concern. Nationwide, billions of dollars are spent each year trying to prevent new introductions and to remove established invaders. The San Francisco Bay-Delta holds the dubious distinction of being “America’s most invaded estuary,” receiving (by some estimates) a new species every fourteen weeks. Ballast Water Outreach Project To help the shipping industry find economically feasible and safe solutions for controlling the influx of new species, California Sea Grant in 1999 began the West Coast Ballast Outreach Project. The project is led by marine advisor Jodi Cassell and co-sponsored by the CALFED Bay-Delta Program and the National Sea Grant College Program. A main goal of the program is to educate industry about the ecological gravity of exotic species. This has been achieved by publishing the newsletter Ballast Exchange, creating an educational website, coordinating workshops and by working closely with the Pacific Ballast Water Group and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. To date, nearly 30,000 copies of Cassell’s award-winning ballast water poster and related brochure have been distributed to ships entering state waters and worldwide. These are being voluntarily distributed by the U.S. Coast Guard, the California State Lands Commission, the Port of Long Beach and the San Francisco Bar Pilots Association. Cordgrasses Aquatic nuisance species not only displace native species, they can alter entire landscapes. This fact has become painfully evident in south San Francisco Bay, where every restored wetland is plagued by hybrid cordgrasses – crosses between the East Coast smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, and native cordgrass, S. foliosa. The hybrids convert tidal mud flats to salt marsh. In a series of projects spanning several years, Sea Grant funded biologist Dr. Donald Strong of UC Davis to develop science-based strategies for controlling these grasses. As a starting point, Strong developed a set of nuclear DNA markers that made it possible to map the extent and severity of the invasion. Further analyses showed that 98 percent of the invasion was due to the spread of hybrids, not to the proliferation of the pure invasive strain itself. This finding revamped eradication strategies and was a major impetus for establishing the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project, a multiagency task force now in charge of coordinating a regional eradication plan. The task force continues to send specimens to Strong’s lab for DNA testing. Without this testing, it would be impossible to continue monitoring the invasion or the effectiveness of herbicide applications and manual plant removal. alterniflora (Photo S. McBride) Spartina In his most recent Sea Grant work, Strong discovered that hybrids release vastly more pollen than pure strains, effectively drowning out the reproductive contribution from competitors. With this knowledge, biologists now remove upwind sources of pollen before attempting to eradicate downwind cordgrass patches, a tactic that has obvious benefits in saving time and money, and in improving the likelihood of successfully eradicating unwanted plants. Strong’s findings have been incorporated into the state’s official eradication plan. Strong believes that native S. foliosa should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The rapid and aggressive hybridization processes that he documented could easily push native cordgrass into extinction. California Sea Grant: 1998-2003 20
Rapid Response to the First Caulerpa Invasion in North America Another highlight of CSG’s aquatic nuisance species program has been our involvement combating the first documented infestations of Caulerpa taxifolia in North America. The rapid response to the discovery, along with concerted efforts by state, federal and local entities, has been key in preventing the seaweed from spreading to the open ocean – a major victory given the disastrous spread of Caulerpa in the Mediterranean. Sea Grant funded Susan Williams, Director of the Bodega Marine Laboratory of UC Davis, to map the potential geographic range of Caulerpa based on available light, salinity and water temperature. Although Caulerpa is native to the tropics, her research showed that the invasive strain in Southern California is capable of spreading as far north as Washington – a sobering discovery that underscored the urgent need for containment. In other Sea Grant-funded work, Steven Murray of CSU Fullerton and Sea Grant trainee Susan Frisch surveyed local aquarium stores to document the seaweed’s commercial availability. Half of the stores were selling seaweeds of the genus Caulerpa, including C. taxifolia. The California legislature has since banned the importation, possession and intrastate sale of nine Caulerpa species. The new law, it is hoped, will significantly reduce the chances of new introductions. The first introductions were likely caused by the dumping of home aquaria into nearby waterways. Because public education is so important, Sea Grant funded biologist Enric Sala of Scripps Institution of Oceanography to create an educational display on Caulerpa for the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla, which has more than 350,000 visitors per year. CSG also hosted the first International Caulerpa taxifolia Conference in 2002 and produced the conference proceedings on CD. Sea Grant communications wrote two feature stories on Caulerpa, which have been posted on CSG’s website and published in Intercoast Network, an international newsletter on coastal management published by the University of Rhode Island. Chinese Mitten Crabs Researchers at UC Santa Barbara dissected several hundred Chinese mitten crabs and crayfish captured from the San Francisco Bay-Delta to look for evidence of lung flukes – dangerous human parasites common in Asia where mitten crabs are a delicacy. The project was motivated by concerns that the illegal sale of locally caught mitten crabs might be spreading parasites. The scientists found no evidence of parasitism in the crustaceans, but they did find all the requisite hosts that are needed to support a future infestation. This finding is significant given the push to open a commercial mitten crab fishery. European Green Crabs Sea Grant funded two researchers at UC Santa Barbara to investigate the efficacy and safety of using a biological control agent – a parasitic barnacle – to reduce the number of European green crabs. The scientists found the parasite is not host-specific enough to warrant its use, European Green Crab (Photo UCSB) as it was able to infect the commercially important Dungeness crab. The findings received widespread media coverage from venues such as the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio and steered resource managers away from investing in a plan that would have likely backfired, resulting in unintended and costly repercussions (see project R/CZ-162). Exotic Invertebrates and Wetland Restoration With Sea Grant funding, researcher Lisa Levin of Scripps Institution of Oceanography showed that a burrowing Australian isopod (Sphaeroma quoyanum) undercuts marsh banks, increasing sediment loss and erosion by as much as 250 percent. The isopod, however, cannot invade gently sloping marsh banks, but only steep, near-vertical ones. With the knowledge that marsh banks should be built to slope gently, wetlands can be constructed (or restored) to be more resilient to exotic invaders. Levin’s findings have been incorporated into the long-term planning documents of the Port of San Diego and the U.S. Navy for San Diego Bay (see project R/CZ-150). 21 California Sea Grant: 1998-2003
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Page 8 and 9: 1998 Pat Recommendations & Response
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Page 18 and 19: Water Quality and Clean Beaches Bea
Page 20 and 21: Conservation Biology Marine Protect
Page 22 and 23: Fisheries Helping the State with Ne
Page 24 and 25: Aquaculture The Department of Comme
Page 28 and 29: Marine Biotechnology Marine Biotech
Page 30 and 31: Seafood Technology Most of us take
Page 32 and 33: to motivate students and build self
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Page 36 and 37: Appendix A ADMINISTRATION Administr
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Page 40 and 41: Appendix C Project Selection PROGRA
Page 42 and 43: Appendix E Integrated Program Compo
Page 44 and 45: Appendix F Connecting Sea Grant Wit
Page 52 and 53: Appendix G Producing Significant Re
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Appendix H Education & Outreach DIS
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Appendix H Education & Outreach CAL
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Appendix H Education & Outreach RES
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Appendix H Education & Outreach OUT
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“The sea is full of treasures whi
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PAT-UC Covers - California Sea Grant - UC San Diego

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