Domestic 'laker' ships as a potential pathway of nonindigenous species in the Great Lakes

Domestic ballast is considered a low risk vector of nonindigenous species introductions within the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River, and is unregulated. I examined establishment risk posed by taxa contained in domestic ballast, biological and environmental similarities between St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes ports, and identified invertebrates through 454 pyrosequencing of 18S rDNA. Ballast samples contained 12 brackish potential nonindigenous species, while St. Lawrence River port samples contained two fresh and 27 brackish species. Québec City poses the greatest establishment risk due to high environmental matching with recipient ports, and because it is the only St. Lawrence River port with freshwater species (two oligochaetes: Aeolosoma viride and Rheomorpha neiswestonovae) not yet present in the Great Lakes. Pyrosequencing effectively identified invertebrates. Pyrosequencing, but not traditional taxonomy, identified the freshwater potential nonindigenous species in this study.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.Sc.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Earth and Environmental Sciences

Grantor

University of Windsor

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Adebayo, Abisola Aderemi

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Hugh J MacIsaac
• Sarah A Bailey

Licence

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_CA

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14776/5952

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uwindsor.scholaris.ca:20.500.14776/5952