Marine invasive species advance 50 km per decade, World Conference on Marine Biodive...( A rapid climate change-induced north...)

A rapid, climate change-induced northern migration of invasive marine is one of many research results announced Tues. Nov. 11 during opening day presentations at the First World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, in Valencia.

Investigators report that invasive species of marine macroalgae spread at 50 km per decade, a distance far greater than that covered by invasive terrestrial plants. The difference may be due to the rapid dispersion of macroalgae propagules in the ocean, according to Nova Mieszkovska, from the Marine Biological Association of the U.K.

The international conference Nov. 11-15, organised by the Spanish Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) and the European Network of Excellence on Marine Biodiversity MarBEF will gather over 500 scientists from 45 countries.

Says CSIC scientist Carlos Duarte, co-chair of the Conference: "Overwhelming evidence of an accelerating deterioration of the oceans has provided the mpetus to call the marine biodiversity scientific community together in this first World Conference."

According to Duarte, the convergence of pressures on the ocean is leading to a global erosion of marine biodiversity "where climate change may deliver the coupe de grae for a catastrophic collapse."

"The impacts of the pressure of climate change are particularly dramatic, according to results presented at the Conference, in the abrupt deterioration of the Arctic and coral reefs" Duarte asserts.

Almost half of the 450 communications at the Conference will address the loss of marine biodiversity and its consequences, whereas the rest will cover the exploitation of marine living resources, as well as exciting discoveries of novel ecosystems in extreme ecosystems, particularly in the deep sea.

Deep sea research has increased greatly in the last decades thanks to technical developments like submarines,
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