Aquatic biosecurity remains a damp squib

Excerpt

Inaction concerning the dispersal of invasive alien species (IAS) via their adherence to anthropogenic vectors remains a global issue for the conservation of aquatic ecosystems (Piria et al. 2017; Ulman et al. 2019; Smith et al. 2020). Although IAS can have detrimental effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning across terrestrial and aquatic environments, given their exposure to multiple transport pathways, aquatic ecosystems are considered especially vulnerable to biological invasions and their impacts (Ricciardi and MacIsaac 2011). In addition, unlike terrestrial ecosystems, submerged aquatic environments are particularly difficult to monitor and, consequently, invasions are often well advanced before they become readily apparent (Beric and MacIsaac 2015). …