title: Modeling sampling strategies for determination of zooplankton abundance in ballast water.
abstract: Ballast water has been a major source of non-indigenous species introductions. The International Maritime Organization has proposed performance standard that will establish an upper limit for viable organisms in discharged ballast. Here we test different sampling efforts for zooplankton in ballast water on a commercial vessel. We fit different probability density functions to find the most representative and evaluated sampling efforts necessary to achieve error rates (α, β) of <0.05. Our tests encompassed four seasonal trials and five sample volumes. To estimate error rates, we performed simulations which drew from 1 to 30 replicates of each volume (0.10-3.00m3) for mean densities ranging between 1 and 20 organisms m-3. Fieldwork and simulations suggested that >0.5m3samples had the best accuracy and precision, and that the Poisson distribution fit these communities best. This study provides the first field test of a sampling strategy to assess compliance with the future IMO standard for large vessels.
authors.affiliation: Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: hernand2@uwindsor.ca.
authors.forename: Marco R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.affiliation: Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Mattias L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States.
authors.forename: Yanyu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Hugh J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: MacIsaac
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012767:Ships; D014867:Water; D015048:Zooplankton / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D014867:Water
keywords: Ballast water; IMO D-2 standard; Modeling; Probability density function; Sampling effort; Zooplankton