Anthropogenic Introductions of Microalgae

Abstract

The potential for transport of non-indigenous marine microalgae via ships’ ballast water and by translocation of shellfish has been amply demonstrated. Molecular approaches are increasingly suggesting that global microalgal diversity has been underestimated, and as a result human-mediated translocations are likely to have been seriously underestimated. The broader environmental impacts from microalgal invasions causing altered food webs have not yet been assessed. The dogma of phytoplankton cosmopolitanism has led to false complacency, and more than 100 years after this environmental problem was first raised in the scientific literature, a general consensus has now been reached that not doing anything is no longer an option. Minimizing the risk of ballast water introductions by microalgae and their cysts represents a very significant scientific and technological challenge, which cannot yet be adequately achieved with best currently available technologies and will be high on the research and development agenda in the decade to come.