Aquatic Invasions in the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean Seas

The present volume contains the presentations of a NATO advanced Research Workshop (ARW) entitled “The invasion of the Black, Mediterranean and Caspian Seas by the American Ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi Agassiz: a multidisciplinary perspective and a comparison with other aquatic invasions”, held on 24 - 26 June 2002 in Baku (Azerbaijan). The meeting was ?nanced by the NATO Division for Scienti?c and Environmental Affairs (Brussels); substantial logistic support was provided by the CEP (Caspian Environmental Program) of the GEF in Baku. The Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas represent three fragments of the former Tethys Sea, and are thus of great interest to understanding the evolution of the entire region where Eurasia, Africa and the Arabian Peninsula meet. While the Mediterranean is a typical marine environment, with salinity even a little above the world ocean’s, the Black Sea is a brackish meromictic lake, and the Caspian is a lake with a saline gradient extending from a freshwater basin in the North to a brackish water basin in the South. Intense ?shing activity takes place in all three seas, while maritime traf?c through the Dardanelles and Bosporus, and via the Lenin Canal (between the Don and Volga rivers) to the Caspian Sea has become greatly intensi?ed in the course of the last few decades.

Table of Contents:
, and their interaction.- Mnemiopsis leidyi: Distribution and Effect on the Black Sea Ecosystem During the First Years of Invasion in Comparison with Other Gelatinous Blooms.- Interactions between the invading ctenophores Mnemiopsis leidyi (A. Agassiz) and Beroe ovata Mayer 1912, and their influence on the Pelagic ecosystem of the Northeastern Black Sea.- Population dynamics of Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Caspian Sea, and effects on the Caspian ecosystem.- Distribution and biology of Mnemiopsis leidyi in the Northern Aegean Sea, and comparison with the indigenous Bolinopsis vitrea.- Effects of Beroe cf ovata on gelatinous and other zooplankton along the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast.- Decreased levels of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis in the Marmara Sea in 2001.- Preliminary investigation on the molecular systematics of The invasive ctenophore Beroe ovata.- of Beroe cf ovata to the Caspian Sea needed to control Mnemiopsis leidyi.- Feeding, respiration and growth of ctenophore Beroe cf ovata in the low salinity conditions of the Caspian Sea.- A brief résumé of the status of the Mnemiopsis population in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea according to observations during the first half of 2002.- Dynamics of Mnemiopsis distribution in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea in 2001–2002.- Investigation on the distribution and biomass of Mnemiopsis in the Kazakhstan sector of the Caspian Sea in May 2002.- Ponto-Caspian species invading Europe; information network.- Range extensions of Ponto-Caspian aquatic invertebrates in Continental Europe.- Living in a sea of exotics — the Baltic case.- Internet-based information resources on aquatic alien species relevant to the Ponto-Caspian Region.- Other Mediterranean Invaders.- Invasion of the Jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca inthe Northern Adriatic: a non-success story.- Caulerpa taxifolia: 18 years of infestation in the Mediterranean Sea.- Conclusions from the meeting.- Conclusions from the meeting.