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Sacramento Luncheon Briefings

How Marine Invaders are Altering California's Coastal Ocean: The Issues and Solutions

June 29, 2007

Featuring Dr. Edwin D. Grosholz, the Alexander and Elizabeth Swantz Specialist in Cooperative Extension at the University of California, Davis; and Dr. Chela Zabin, the Program Manager for the San Francisco Bay branch of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center's Marine Bioinvasions Research Laboratory. William Craven, the Chief Consultant to the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, moderated this luncheon.

Background Information

For more than 150 years, California's coastal ocean has been under attack from introduced species. Between 1850-1960, an average of one species per year established itself in the San Francisco Bay. Since 1960 that rate has quadrupled. Gobies from Asia, Atlantic cordgrasses, Asian clams and mussels, and European crabs are now fixtures in the California coastal ecosystem-squeezing out and competing with native plants and animals.

Invasive species are animals and plants that do not naturally occur in an area and can cause serious economic and ecological damage. Invasions are fundamentally changing the structure and function of most coastal and ocean communities around the world. Once released from the pressures that keep them under control in their native homes, these animals may out-compete native organisms for food and living space. They can also bring new diseases and parasites into local communities. Removing these species is costly and difficult. Preventing them from invading California in the first place can be more cost effective.

Luncheon Agenda

Speaker Bios

Presentations

"Causes and consequences of aquatic invasions" (Grosholz)

Presentation

"Vectors of introduction and spread of non-native marine species in California" (Zabin)

Presentation

References

Reference List

Ballast Water and Hull Fouling fact sheet by the West Coast Ballast Water Outreach Project

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