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ROLE OF SICILY AND CIRCUM-SICILIAN ISLANDS AS
RECIPIENT AND DONOR AREA FOR ALIEN MARINE

MACROPHYTES IN THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN
SEA

• Authors: Mannino, A.; Balistreri, P.; Deidun, A.
• Publication year: 2017
• Type: Poster pubblicato in volume
• OA Link: http://hdl.handle.net/10447/252285

Abstract

The spread of alien species is an ongoing phenomenon which is widely recognized as a major
threat to biodiversity at all levels. The particularly high rate of alien introductions to the
Mediterranean Sea has been mainly fuelled by the opening of the Suez Canal, by shipping,
aquaculture and by a rising trend in seawater temperature. As far as marine macrophytes are
concerned, a total of 134 species have been listed as possible aliens in the Mediterranean
Sea. Among the possible pathways of introduction, shipping is considered the dominant vector
of unintentional species introduction in coastal marine systems worldwide. Traversing the
Strait of Sicily, the chief passageway from south to north and from east to west, is considered
crucial for extending the range from west to east or vice versa of alien species introduced into
the Mediterranean Sea. Sicily and the circum-Sicilian Islands, as a consequence of their
strategic position at the crossroads between the western and eastern Mediterranean and by
virtue of the intense maritime traffic volumes skirting the region, are particularly congenial for
and vulnerable to biological marine invasions. this area, due to its crucial position within the
Mediterranean Sea, could be an important transboundary station for monitoring the entry and
spread of marine alien species.