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DATABASE OF THE NONINDIGENOUS SPECIES IN THE ESTUARIES OF CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND WASHINGTON
Citation:
Reusser, D. AND H Lee II. DATABASE OF THE NONINDIGENOUS SPECIES IN THE ESTUARIES OF CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND WASHINGTON. Presented at Third International Conference on Marine Bioinvasions, La Jolla, CA, March 16-19, 2003.
Description:
The number and composition of the native and nonindigenous species is a key component in invasive species risk assessments and regional prioritizations. The problem for both managers and researchers is that this information is scattered in the peer-reviewed literature, gray literature, and various databases. With support from the Western Regional Panel of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force (ANSTF), we have initiated a project to summarize information on species composition of the estuaries of California, Oregon, and Washington. Because of the potential transport of nonindigenous species within a water body, estuarine systems are classified as "independent", those with a self-contained water mass and a direct connection to the ocean, or "embedded" which are sub-estuaries or tributaries contained within a larger water body. In the three states, 135 independent estuaries and 271 embedded estuaries have been categorized and georeferenced. These estuaries range in size from 0.0142 km2 to over 6000 km2 for Puget Sound. When biological information is available for an estuary, we are compiling a species list as well as classifying the species as native, nonindigenous, cryptogenic, or indeterminate based on the literature. The primary focus will be on benthic invertebrates and fishes. Various physical attributes are also being summarized, including estuarine area, watershed locale, latitude/longitude, climate, and salinity when georeferenced data are available. The information will be captured in a stand-alone Access database, which will present the results in standardized forms as well as allowing custom queries and reports. A prototype of the database has been developed using the 1999 EMAP survey of Pacific coast estuaries and contains information on 867 benthic species from 90 estuaries. To add to the database, the authors are seeking sources listing species composition in Pacific coast estuaries, particularly in the smaller systems.