EICAT ASSESSMENT SHEET

(Waters, 1878)

Não informado

20/04/2021

Global, independente de unidade de conservação

MODERATE (MO) - MODERADO

Animalia

Bryozoa

Gymnolaemata

Cheilostomatida

Schizoporellidae

Schizoporella

Thiago Couto

Não verificado

Não informado

Não informada

20/04/2021

1

Não informado

Alta

As predicted, a mix of soft-bottom and hard-substrate organisms were found in the bryoliths, indicating that this invasive species provides a unique substrate not equivalent to rocks and other typical hard substrate in the bay. Hard substrate is rare in the South Bay, and the bryoliths facilitate the colonization of a number of organisms that otherwise would not be able to exist on the soft mud. Although organisms associated with the bryoliths were overwhelmingly nonnative, the bryoliths do not appear to differentially promote non-natives. Previous studies in the Bay have found non-native species richness that were roughly equivalent on hard and soft substrates (e.g. Cohen et al. 2005), so this outcome is not surprising. However, certain invasive species that are limited by hard substrate are now able to live on the mudflats. The bryoliths may serve as stepping stones for hardsubstrate dependent sessile organisms between the ‘islands’ of hard substrate such as rip-rap, bridge abutments and seawalls in the South Bay. Two species that are the major foci of restoration efforts within San Francisco Bay are the native oyster Ostrea lurida Carpenter (1864) and the eelgrass Zostera marina Linnaeus 1758; these organisms were once more abundant within the Bay, including the areas that are now inhabited by the bryoliths (Bonnot 1935). The presence of bryoliths could hinder restoration efforts in the South Bay by overgrowing these species and, at least over the areas of dense bryolith coverage, by decreasing the area suitable for eelgrass to take root.

Mundo

Registro como espécie exótica em vários locais do mundo.

Não informado

Não informado

Não informado

Não

WoRMS

Não informado