Collaborative Proposal:Testing the Invasion Process: Survival, Dispersal, Genetic Characterization, and Attenuation of Marine Biota on the 2011 Japanese Tsunami Marine Debris Field

Williams College, Williamstown MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project will examine marine organisms arriving on the US West Coast in association with floating marine debris from the March 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami in northern Japan. The volume of debris is large and has the potential to inaugurate a massive injection of foreign species. As an example, in June 2012, a single, 20 m-long floating dock dislodged from the port of Misawa on Honshu Island transported nearly 100 Asian species to the coast of Oregon. The PIs propose to gather data on species identity, population structure, reproductive condition, growth histories, genetics, and parasite/pathogen presence from the rafted biota. More than just an assessment of what is arriving, the work will be structured around evaluating a number of parameters important for understanding the potential for long-distance rafting and subsequent invasions. The PIs will also document genetic diversity, providing another perspective on invasions and, where the genes are novel to North America, providing a baseline for examining the spread of novel genes in a new environment. Under most circumstances, the dispersal of adult stages across large expanses of ocean is rare and therefore difficult to study. The large debris field from the tsunami provides a unique opportunity for these studies. Broader Impacts: Biological invasions are a major driver of community and ecosystem change. The findings of this study will provide valuable information on invasion processes and potential, and in the short term will provide rapid, authoritative information on the species composition, traits, and abundance of invaders associated with the present debris field. The work will include an assessment of parasites and pathogens which could threaten native species.