Ispra, 17-18 June 2009 1

Questionnaire

February – 27 March 2009

4 sections, 14 questions

A. MS’s definition of alien species - WFD

B. Alien species lists and their maintenance

C. Alien species in ESA and classification - WFD

D. Comments and personal/institutional views

89 ECOSTAT contacts: 1 return per MS

30 returns, 24 countries

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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A. Definition

1. How are alien species defined by the MS?

A species, subspecies or lower taxon, introduced outside its natural past or present distribution; includes any part,

gametes, seeds, eggs, or propagules of such species that might survive and subsequently reproduce (CBD)

No single definition is applicable in the MS

Invasive, impact Established Human mediated Population Strains

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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A. Definition

2. Are translocated native species considered as alien species?

Translocated native species: A native species that displays the characteristics of an alien species when deliberately moved to a different region, catchment or sub-catchment of the same country.

E.g. Greece: Common carp (Cyprinus carpio)(Evro river basin. Western Greece.

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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A. Definition

3. Are casual alien species considered as alien species?

Casual alien species: Alien species that may flourish and even reproduce occasionally in an area, but which do not form selfreplacing populations and which rely on repeated introductions for their persistence.

E.g. Flanders, Denmark: Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

if they have an impact

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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A. Definition

4. Are species that are present as a result of climate change considered as alien species?

E.g. Hungary: Diadesmis (Navicula) confervacea

Human mediated introduction vs. natural range expansionHow to separate … (presence in neigbouring countries, tropical spp.?)Also climate change is human mediated …

Climate change vs. other human actions (e.g. channel Rhine-Danube) Temporary phenomenon?

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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A. Definition

5. Are all introduced species considered as alien species, regardless of the date of introduction?

NO-MAR

ATBE-MARDE-LAKDE-RIV

LU

IT IE EE(plants)

EL EE (\plants)

BE-WAL BE-FLA(\plants)

A date can determine if a species is to be controlled/removed or protected(e.g. roman snail, white clawed crayfish)

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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A. Definition

6. Is it useful to apply a historical date as one of the criteria to determine non-nativeness of a species?

BE-MAR AT (\fish)DE-LAKDE-RIV

CY, EL BE-WALAT (fish)

YES, if: ecologically relevant verifiable (cf. ES, fish: mar vs. fw)

Region and group/BQE specific

NO practical reasons (lack of data) fundamental reasons (only human mediation counts)

LT: Dates may vary accross Europe, but date setting criteria should be standardized

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

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Thanks to …

Gisela Ofenböck, Wendy Bonne, Wim Gabriels, Pierre Gerard, Marina Argyrou, Libuse Opatrilova, Jochen Schaumburg, Franz Schöll, Hans Erik Svart, Merike Linnamägi, Maria Antonieta Pancucci-Papadopoulou, Borja Heredia, Javier Pantoja, Javier Ruza, Beatriz Rodríguez Labajos, Marta Manzanera-Bosch, Angel Borja, P. Garcia, Araceli Puenta Trueba, Concha Duran, Angel Nieva, Beatriz Rodríguez Labajos, Marta Manzanera-Bosch, Maiju Lehtiniemi, Alain Dutartre, Nicolas Poulet, Michel Perret, Zagyva Andrea, John Lucey, Deirdre Tierney, Franco Andaloro, Ernesto Azzurro, Francesca Gherardi, Marino Giovanna, Darius Daunys, Nora Welschbillig, Indrikis Barkans, Suzanne Stuijfzand, Heidi Hansen, Anders Jelmert, Wojciech Solarz, Mihail Otilia, Håkan Marklund, Gorazd Urbanič, Phil Boon...

Workshop Ispra, 17-18 June 2009

Discussion- Alien species = CBD??? (WFD: only invasive alien species?)- Incl. casual ‘aliens’?- Incl. translocated ‘native species’?- Incl. climate change meditated range expansion? - Historical date:

- useful? - scale? Organism group? Pathway?

- …

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B. Alien species lists and their maintenance

7. Are there monitoring programmes running in the MS that are specifically designed for the detection of predefined alien species or the expansion of their ranges?

Mainly regional, project based or voluntary

Very few national and long term programmes scattered data

Environment < human health, economy, domestic animals

e.g. Norway

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B. Alien species lists and their maintenance

8. Would the routine monitoring programmes running in the MS detect the following alien species:

lakes(17)

rivers(12)

ctrans(7)

plants(13)

invertebrates(11)

fish(13)

other(7)

20

11

7

16

8

9

16

17

6

4

6

11

traditional methods (fish nets, plant surveys and zoobenthos samples)

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B. Alien species lists and their maintenance

9. Are lists of alien species available in the MS?

coverage: # species, which habitat types, which organism groups

ecological information: establishment + impact

contact person/institute + URL/reference

data sources

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National IAS lists - gaps

accessible complete (aquatic)• AT: ca. 1700 spp. (Franz Essl, UBA) + smaller group specific lists 0 1• BE: ca. 100 marine spp. (VLIZ) + 89 species (Etienne Brancourt, BPB) + other 1 1• IT: X animal spp., 83 plants (F. Gherardi, Univ. Florence; F. Andaloro, ISPRA) 0 1• CY: X marine spp., NA (Marina Argyrou, DFMR) 0 no freshwater?• CZ: 496 spp., book in Czech, 2006 (Mlikovsky & Stylo, Prague) + 1378 plants (Bot. Instit., Prague) (1) 1• DE: ca. 100 marine spp. (???) 0 no freshwater?• DK: 2656 spp., NOBANIS (Hans Erik Svart, Danish Forestry and Nature Agency) 1 1• EE: 924 spp. (740 plants + other lists) (envir,ee + emu.ee + tallinnlv.ee) 1 1• EL: 268 spp. (M. Pancucci, HCMR) (1) 1• FI: 241 spp., NOBANIS (various institutes) 1 1• IE: 557 spp. (NIEA/NPWS) (1) 1• LT: 721 spp., 96% Baltic Sea DB (Darius Daunys, Coastal Research and Planning Institute) 1 only 4% freshwater?• LU: 9 or 22 plant spp. (Ministry of Environment or NHM); 5 mammals (L. Schley, XXX) 1 no animals, few spp.• LV: 807 spp., NOBANIS (XXX) 1 1• NO: 215 spp. (Biodiversity Information Centre) 1 1• PL: 1060 spp. (Wojciech Solarz, Inc Pas) 1 1• RO: X spp. (Gabriel Chirac, NIRDEP; Valeria Abaza, IMRD) 0 (1)• SE: 2065 spp., NOBANIS (XXX) 1 1• UK: 94 spp., plants, invertebrates and fish (WFD-UKTAG) 1 no amphibians, mammals…?

• Under construction: ES, FR, HU (plants OK), NL • No lists: SI?• No reply: PT, SK, MT, BG

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Lots of lists, but …

gaps: organisms groups, countries/regions, habitat types, ecological

information

limited accessibility (search strings, reports, books, papers, contact persons)

limited compatibilty

- categorisation ecological information (impact, level of establishment,

distribution, abundance)

- organism groups (e.g. macroinvertebrates vs. zoobenthos vs. …)

maintenance (project based, books vs. Websites, projects vs. institutes)

Need for harmonisation?

Need for centralisation?

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Need for a EU IAS database/network/centre?

Possible roles of network/centre/platform• facilitate information exchange:

- Top down: global/Europe (directives) national/regional governments/stakeholders/research centra

- Bottom-up: feeding of information from local/regional/national organisations to EU policies and global

legislations/databases

- researchers (monitoring programmes, impact assessments) policy makers (legislation)

• development and maintenance of alien species lists

- integration of existing databases (incl. harmonisation of data: distribution, impact, establishment,

terms, coverage…)

- identification of gaps (habitat types, regions, organism groups)

- development of standardized monitoring programmes

• establishment and updating of alien species experts network

• early warning for and rapid action upon arrival of aliens

• centralized funding for:

• expert group meetings

• monitoring (early detection) + eradication/control

• awareness campaigns…

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Existing IAS databases/networks in Europe

- DAISIE (Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe)

- NOBANIS (Nordic-Baltic Network on Invasive Species)

- CIESM (International Commission for Scientific Exploration of the

Mediterranean Sea)

- EPPO (European and Mediterranean Plant Protection

Organization)

- ERNAIS (European Research Network on Aquatic Invasive)

- …

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NOBANIS North European and Baltic Network on Invasive Alien Species

- 13 of EU-27 + Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Eur. Russia

- Terrestrial and aquatic

- > 14000 species x country entries

- Funding: ? (builds on 2 meetings organized by GISP and US; 2001-2002)

- Form: distributed but integrated online database (18 national focal points)

Differences among nations (numbers of species + categories)

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NOBANIS

Country Invasive Potentially invasive Not invasive Not known Total

Denmark 63 17 2015 561 2656

Germany 4 0 15 2250 2269

Sweden 172 59 824 1010 2065

Austria 29 64 0 1945 2038

Estonia 59 71 89 720 939

Norway 28 59 752 15 854

Latvia 142 71 268 326 807

Poland 142 19 78 520 759

Lithuania 83 90 74 333 580

European Russia 71 20 334 21 446

Finland 99 66 32 44 241

Faroe Islands 2 0 0 144 146

Greenland 0 0 0 131 131

Iceland 7 17 83 19 126

Belgium 34 15 2 0 51

Ireland - - - - 0

the Netherlands - - - - 0

Slovakia - - - - 0

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DAISIEDelivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe

+ terrestrial and aquatic - no maintenance? (FP6)

+ EU27 (57 countries) - not compatible with GISIN

+ ca. 11000 introductions- gaps (regions x species,

impact, establishment,

incomplete for fungi,

invertebrates, …)

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CIESMInternational Commission for Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea

- Mission: delivering authoritative, independent advice to national and international agencies CIESM

through expert workshops, collaborative programs and regular congresses

- Headquarter: Monaco- Funding: Member States (?)- History:

- 1908: Congress recommending the creation of a Commission for the Mediterranean (+Atlantic…)- 1919: CIESM conference with 8 countries- 2004: 23 countries (11 of EU-27)

CIESM Atlas (418 species)- 99 fish- 69 crustaceans- 140 molluscs- 110 macrophytes

only marine/Mediterraneanlimited number of organism groups

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EPPO European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization

- An intergovernmental organization responsible for European cooperation in plant protection in the

European and Mediterranean region. Under the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC), EPPO

is the regional plant protection organization (RPPO) for Europe.- Headquarters: Paris, France- History:

- 1951: founding of EPPO, 15 countries- 2008: 50 countries (incl. EU-27)

 

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ERNAISEuropean Research Network on Aquatic Invasive Species

- Virtual list of European experts that agreed to be responsible for certain invaders or invasion vectors.- Headquarter: Regional Biological Invasions Center (RBIC); Russia- History:

- 2001: founding of ERNAIS- 2002: creation of searchable on-line alien species experts database - 2003: 101 experts, 27 countries- 2004: recognized by EC (“Alien species strategy”)- 2008: ???

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Global IAS databases

- NISBASE (International Nonindigenous Species Database Network)

- GISIN (Global Invasive Species Information Network)

- GISD (Global Invasive Species Database)

…

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GISDGlobal Invasive Species Database

- What: Global database on alien invasive species- Coordination: IUCN-ISSG- Funding: National Biological Information Infrastructure, Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, the University of Auckland and private donations. Data providers: expert contributors from around the world

UK: ca. 55 species < UK WFD: 94 species

(impact: 34 high, 20 low, 40 unknown) Sweden: ca. 35 species < NOBANIS: 2037 species

(invasiveness: 172 yes, 59 pot., 824 no, 1010 unknown)

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NISbaseAn International Nonindigenous Species Database Network

-What: Distributed database providing information concerning nonindigenous species. Through this site, users can access information on taxonomy, life history, native and introduced ranges, photos, maps, and impacts of aquatic species introduced around the world.

- Who: Smithsonian Environmental Research Center + collaborators

- Funding: ?

- Data providers• NAS Database (Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database)• Chesapeake Bay Exotic Marine and Estuarine Species Information System • Nonindigenous Species in the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem • NIMPIS (National Introduced Marine Pest Information System) • Introduced Marine Species of Hawaii Guidebook • CIESM Atlas of Exotic Species in the Mediterranean Sea • Guide to the Exotic Species of San Francisco Bay • Marine Invader Tracking Information System • NOBANIS: North European and Baltic Network on Invasive Alien Species • NOAA National Benthic Inventory

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GISINGlobal Invasive Species Information Network

- What: Online network of alien species databases, encouraging the continuation of individual data ownership, maintenance, and quality assurance.

- Who: US National Institute for Invasive Species Science), IUCN ISSG, …

- Funding: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

- Data providers:- Global Organism Detection and Monitoring System- Fishbase- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission- Non-indigenous Aquatic Species- I3N-Argentina- Smithsonian Environmental Research Centre

- Links to 273 online databases (global, regional, national and subregional)

- Perspectives: - Fully developed online data providers network by 2012, including a broad variety of invasive species online databases managed by governments, non-governmental organizations, academia, and the private sector. - Additional information types such as images and species profile data will be included. - Data providers and consumers will be listed in a GISIN registry, and data consumers will develop diverse portals for cross searching information and displaying it in maps, charts, species profiles, and other formats determined by user needs. - Information from other online systems (such as the Encyclopedia of Life, Species 2000, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility) will be exchanged in an interactive manner. - The information from the GISIN system will also form an integral part of the Comprehensive Invasive Species Information System, which is a global project currently seeking funding from the World Bank.

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IAS lists - questions

- Needed? Cf. BPI…

- WFD or general?

- Tagged in general alien species or biodiversity DBs?

- National and/or river/sea basin lists?

- Incl. translocated native species, casual species, ‘climate change species’?

- Aquatic + terrestrial/riparian, marine vs. freshwater?

- Organism groups? BQEs?

- Categories? (distribution (scale), abundance (absolute/relative, log), impact

level, establishment)

- Form of list(s): internet database, PDF file, report, public?

- Integration/harmonisation of existing lists? European or regional/basin?

Credentials?

- Maintenance?

- Network of IAS experts needed? Organization? Funding? Structure?

- Compatibility with MSFD/global DBs?

- …

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C. AS in ESA and classification under WFD

10. Are alien species explicitly taken into account by the MS in ecological status assessment and classification under the WFD?

YES included in similarity index (reference vs. actual community) element of index (e.g. density or biomass of alien species) downscaling of ecological status

NO practical reasons (lack of lists, info on impact: 40%) conceptual reasons (other tools already measure pressure by aliens)

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11. In which water bodies are alien species absent when applying the MSs protocol for ecological status?

C. AS in ESA and classification under WFD

Is there other evidence that would prevent the water body being classed as high status?

Is there evidence that a listed high-impact alien species is established in the water body?

No

Yes

No Classify as high status

Is there evidence that the alien species is causing more than a slight adverse impact on any biological element?

Yes

Classify as good status

Classify as moderate or worse

No

No

Yes Yes

Is there other evidence that would prevent the water body being classed as good status?

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12. Under which option does the current MS’s WFD ecological status assessment fall?

C. AS in ESA and classification under WFD

Option 1: Classify water bodies using pressure-based classification tools, and then modify the classification based on alien species, with the final result being either high, good, or less than good status. (+ action, - AS> other pressures)

Option 2: As for Option 1, but use quantitative data to link the abundance or percentage cover of alien species to the five WFD quality classes.

Option 3: Assume that the pressure-based tools for classification have already detected any impacts caused by alien species. (+ no new tools needed; - (recent) aliens not accounted for?)

Option 4: Classify water bodies without taking account explicitly of alien species (as for option 3), but carry out a separate risk assessment by applying various ‘biopollution’ indices for risk and impact of alien species. (+: AS vs. other pressures; - no action?)

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12. Under which option does the current MS’s WFD ecological status assessment fall?

C. AS in ESA and classification under WFD

13. Which option would be the most appropriate considering both feasibility and usefulness in ecological status assessment and classification under the WFD?

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14. Which biopollution index is the most appropriate considering both feasibility and usefulness?

C. AS in ESA and classification under WFD

HIGHGOODMOD

POORBAD

??? spread <20%>20%<20%>20%

impact

impact

Integrated Biopollution Risk Index Biopollution level index

- Categorized abundance and distribution range- Categorized impact on community, habitat and ecosystem level

??? spread