Impacts of invasive alien marine species on ecosystem services and biodiversity: a pan-European review

Abstract prerequisite for the efficient prioritisation of actions to prevent new invasions or for developing mitigation measures. In this review, we identified alien marine species that have a high impact on ecosystem services and biodiversity in European seas, classified the mechanisms of impact, commented on the methods applied for assessing the impact and the related inferential strength, and reported on gaps in available information. Furthermore, we have proposed an updated inventory of 87 marine species in Europe, representing 13 phyla, which have a documented high impact on ecosystem services or biodiversity. Food provision was the ecosystem service that was impacted by the greatest number of alien species (in terms of both positive and negative impacts). Following food provision, the ecosystem services that were negatively affected by the highest number of alien species were ocean nourishment, recreation and tourism, and lifecycle maintenance, while the ecosystem services that were most often positively impacted were cognitive benefits, water purification, and climate regulation. In many cases, marine aliens were found to impact keystone/protected species and habitats. Thirty percent of the assessed species had an impact on entire ecosystem processes or wider ecosystem functioning, more often in a negative fashion. Forty-nine of the assessed species were reported as being ecosystem engineers, which fundamentally modify, create, or define habitats by altering their physical or chemical properties. The positive impacts of alien species are probably underestimated, as there is often a perception bias against alien species. Among the species herein assessed as high-impact species, 17 had only negative and 7 only positive impacts; for the majority (63 species), both negative and positive impacts were reported; the overall balance was often unknown. Although there is no doubt that invasive species have modified marine ecosystems, evidence for most of the reported impacts is weak, as it is based on expert judgement or dubious correlations, while only 13% of the reported impacts were inferred via manipulative or natural experiments. A need for stronger inference is evident, to improve our knowledge base of marine biological invasions and better inform environmental managers

Genetics of immunoglobulin-A vasculitis (Henoch-Schönlein purpura): An updated review

Immunoglobulin-A vasculitis (IgAV) is classically a childhood small-sized blood vessel vasculitis with predominant involvement of the skin. Gastrointestinal and joint manifestations are common in patients diagnosed with this condition. Nephritis, which is more severe in adults, constitutes the most feared complication of this vasculitis. The molecular bases underlying the origin of IgAV have not been completely elucidated. Nevertheless, several pieces of evidence support the claim that genes play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of this disease. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region is, until now, the main genetic factor associated with IgAV pathogenesis. Besides a strong association with HLA class II alleles, specifically HLA-DRB1 alleles, HLA class I alleles also seem to influence on the predisposition of this disease. Other gene polymorphisms located outside the HLA region, including those coding cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules as well as those related to T-cells, aberrant glycosylation of IgA1, nitric oxide production, neoangiogenesis, renin-angiotensin system and lipid, Pyrin and homocysteine metabolism, may be implicated not only in the predisposition to IgAV but also in its severity. An update of the current knowledge of the genetic component associated with the pathogenesis of IgAV is detailed in this review.Acknowledgements: RL-Mis supported by the Miguel Servet I programme of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the grant CP16/ 00033. FG is recipient of a Sara Borrell postdoctoral fellowship from the “Instituto Carlos III de Salud” at the Spanish Ministry of Health (Spain) (CD15/00095). SR-M is supported by funds from the RETICS Program (RIER) (RD16/0012/0009). FDC is supported by the Ramón y Cajal programme of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the grant RYC-2014-16458

Impacts of invasive alien marine species on ecosystem services and biodiversity: a pan-European review

A good understanding of the mechanisms and magnitude of impact of invasive alien species on ecosystem services and biodiversity is a prerequisite for efficient prioritization of actions for prevention of new invasions or for mitigation measures. In this review, we have identified marine alien species of high-impact on ecosystem services and biodiversity in the European seas, classified the mechanisms of impact, commented on the methods applied for assessing impact and the related inferential strength, and reported gaps in available information. Furthermore, we have proposed an updated inventory of 86 marine species in Europe, representing 12 phyla, with documented high impact on ecosystem services or biodiversity. Food provision was the ecosystem service that was impacted by the highest number of alien species (in terms of both positive and negative impacts). Following food provision, the ecosystem services that were negatively affected by the highest number of species were ocean nourishment, recreation and tourism, and water purification, while the ecosystem services that were more often positively impacted were water purification, cognitive benefits, and climate regulation. In many cases, marine aliens impact keystone/protected species and habitats. Almost 30% of the assessed species affected entire ecosystem processes or wider ecosystem function, more often in a negative way. Fifty of the assessed species have been reported to be ecosystem engineers, fundamentally modifying, creating or defining habitats by altering their physical or chemical properties. Positive impacts of alien species are probably underestimated, as there is a persistent perception bias against alien species. We conclude that the “native good, alien bad” philosophy is a misconception and the role of most of the alien species in marine ecosystems is rather complex. Among the species herein assessed as high-impact species, 15 had only negative and 8 only positive impacts; for the majority (64 species) both negative and positive impacts have been reported, and the overall balance is often unknown. Although there is no doubt that invasive species have modified marine ecosystems, evidence for most of the reported impacts is weak, as it is based on expert judgement or dubious correlations, while only ~10% of the reported impacts were inferred via manipulative or natural experiments. A need for stronger inference is evident, to improve our knowledge base of marine biological invasions and better inform managers.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

Floating Macro Litter in European Rivers -Top Items

The JRC exploratory project RIMMEL provides information about litter, mainly plastic waste, entering the European Seas through river systems. RIMMEL has collected data on riverine floating macro litter inputs to the sea. Data acquisition was based on the Riverine Litter Observation Network (RiLON) activities, which collected data from rivers in the European marine basins over a period of one year (September 2016 – September 2017). Data was collected by visual observations and documented with the JRC Floating Litter Monitoring Application for mobile devices, allowing a harmonized reporting, compatible with the MSFD Master List of Categories for Litter Items. This report includes the Top Items lists of riverine floating macro litter, based on the total amount of litter items identified during RiLON activities and ranked by abundance. Top Items lists have been elaborated considering the whole database for the European Seas and further detailed for each individual European regional sea: Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and North-East Atlantic. The North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea regions showed similar litter categories in their Top 20 Items. These two regions provided most of the available data, influencing the general Top Items list. In the Black Sea and Baltic Sea regions, where data availability was limited, the Top Items lists showed more differences among the different regions. Overall, the general Top Items list for the European Seas showed a predominance of plastic item categories (artificial polymer materials). As a whole, plastic items made up to 80.8% of all objects, with plastic and polystyrene fragments comprising 45% of the identified items in the database. Additionally, Single Use Plastics such as bottles, cover/packaging and bags were also ranked among the most frequently found floating litter. The similarities in the Top 10 and Top 20 items for the different regions, and the appearance of Single Use Plastics scoring high in the ranking, support the need for common actions against plastic pollution at EU level