Are there Invasive Planktonic Microbes?

Abstract

The translocation of species by human activities is a problem that increases with the globalization. However, the examples of non-indigenous or exotic planktonic microbes can be questioned as they predominantly have cosmopolitan distributions and natural mechanisms for wide dispersion. In reality, the categorization of any species as non-indigenous requires solving two difficult issues: knowledge of where the ‘natural’ population is, and demonstration of a substantial geographic discontinuity between the supposed source and the introduced populations. With regard to planktonic microorganisms, a non-indigenous taxon could have been previously unnoticed during routine microscopical analyses due to: A) difficult identification at the species level in routine observations such as for the diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia, Skeletonema, Thalassiosira, Pleurosigma), unarmoured dinoflagellates (Karenia, Karlodinium) and Raphidophytes, and B) species with strong interannual fluctuations of abundance, only detected during bloom periods when they are misinterpreted as newcomers (i.e., Coscinodiscus wailesii or Trieres chinensis, junior synonyms of C. cylindricus and T. regia, respectively, or Gymnodinium catenatum). Rather than attempting to add to the lists of non-indigenous species with planktonic microbes, the monitoring surveys should also pay attention in the less common species with important fluctuations of abundance, independent of tentative labels as exotic or indigenous, because they are potentially useful as bio-indicators of environmental changes.