title: Recommendations on standardizing lists of marine alien species: Lessons from the Mediterranean Sea.
abstract: Analyses of marine alien species based on national/regional datasets are of paramount importance for the success of regulation on the prevention and management of invasive alien species. Yet in the extant data systems the criteria for the inclusion of records are seldom explicit, and frequently inconsistent in their definitions, spatial and temporal frames and comprehensiveness. Agreed-upon uniform guiding principles, based on solid and transparent scientific criteria, are therefore required in order to provide policy makers with validated and comparable data. Following a meta-analysis on the records of marine alien species in the Mediterranean Sea, we recommend a judicious approach to compiling the data. Here, three categories of uncertainty were identified: species' taxonomic identification, species' actual occurrence in the area, and its status as an alien. In proposing guiding principles to standardize such datasets, we aim to encourage discourse on logical, standardized and transparent criteria to substantiate records of alien species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. Electronic address: agnese.marchini@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Agnese
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchini
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: bella@ocean.org.il.
authors.forename: Bella S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Galil
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. Electronic address: occhipin@unipv.it.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Occhipinti-Ambrogi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002965:Classification; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D033161:Government Regulation; D058865:Introduced Species / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Guiding principles; Inventories; Marine alien species; Mediterranean Sea; Uncertainty