ALien Biotic IndEX (ALEX) – A new index for assessing impacts of alien species on benthic communities

•ALEX was developed to assess impacts of alien species on benthic communities.•ALEX enables to classify samples according to the WFD’s classification system.•Shallow-water habitats near harbors are more prone to invasions by alien species.•The index is significantly correlated with water depth and d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2014-10, Vol.87 (1-2), p.171-179
Main Authors: Çinar, Melih Ertan, Bakir, Kerem
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alien species
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
Benthic communities
Biological and medical sciences
Biotic index
Eastern Mediterranean
Ecosystem
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Impacts of alien species
Introduced Species
Marine
Marine and brackish environment
Oceans and Seas
Rivers
Sea water ecosystems
Synecology
Turkey
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Summary:•ALEX was developed to assess impacts of alien species on benthic communities.•ALEX enables to classify samples according to the WFD’s classification system.•Shallow-water habitats near harbors are more prone to invasions by alien species.•The index is significantly correlated with water depth and distance from harbor. Biotic indices are mainly aimed at assessing levels of deterioration caused by chemical or organic pollution. However, no biotic index to date has been developed to detect impacts of alien species on benthic communities. In this paper, a new biotic index, namely ALEX, is proposed to address the objectives of the Water Framework Directive and was tested in Mersin Bay (Levantine Sea, Turkey). Species were divided into four biogeographic groups, namely native species, casual species, established species and invasive species, and the metric considers the relative importance of these groups in samples. The index classified the ecological status of some stations which are shallow, and close to harbor and river mouths as bad or poor in February and October. The ALEX values were positively and significantly correlated with total nitrogen, silicate and silt percentage in sediment, and negatively correlated with depth and the distance from the harbor.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.07.061