Global hot spots of biological invasions: evaluating options for ballast-water management.
Biological invasions from ballast water are a severe environmental threat and exceedingly costly to society. We identify global hot spots of invasion based on worldwide patterns of ship traffic. We then estimate the rate of port-to-port invasion using gravity models for spatial interactions, and we identify bottlenecks to the regional exchange of species using the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm for network flows. Finally, using stochastic simulations of different strategies for controlling ballast-water introductions, we find that reducing the per-ship-visit chance of causing invasion is more effective in reducing the rate of biotic homogenization than eliminating key ports that are the epicentres for global spread.
Drake
John M
JM
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA. drake.4@nd.edu
Lodge
David M
DM
D044822:Biodiversity; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D005843:Geography; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012767:Ships; D014186:Transportation; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid