ABSTRACT

Exotic species often slip through international borders undetected. Increased global trade has increased the frequency of species introductions. The marine aquarium trade is a significant vector of species introductions, including algal introductions. Molecular barcoding of tropical macroalgae entering the New Zealand aquarium trade was implemented using various molecular markers. Both NCBI BLAST searches and maximum-likelihood phylogenies were used to identify the isolates. A total of 62 species of tropical macroalgae were identified from coral rocks. Some species found are known as invasive elsewhere, for example, Caulerpa cylindracea, C. racemosa, C. sertularioides, Ulva ohnoi and Chaetomorpha vieillardii. All three major groups of algae were well represented with 26 species of red algae, 24 species of green algae and 12 species of brown algae. Temperature tolerance of some of these algae to minimum sea surface temperatures was tested. Results show that one species Chaetomorpha vieillardii can survive at Auckland minimum winter sea surface temperatures. Our findings have important implications for New Zealand biosecurity, as not only are a large diversity of exotic macroalgae entering the New Zealand marine aquarium trade unregulated, but there is also the potential for them to survive in New Zealand waters.

摘要

外来物种经常在不被发现的情况下穿越国际边界。全球贸易的增加增加了物种引进的频率。海洋水族馆贸易是物种引进（包括藻类引进）的重要载体。使用各种分子标记对进入新西兰水族馆贸易的热带大型藻类进行分子条形码。NCBI BLAST 搜索和最大似然系统发育均用于鉴定分离株。从珊瑚岩中鉴定出总共 62 种热带大型藻类。发现的一些物种在其他地方被认为是入侵物种，例如Caulerpa cylindracea、C. racemosa、C. sertularioides 、 Ulva ohnoi和Chaetomorpha vieillardii。所有三个主要藻类都有很好的代表性，其中有 26 种红藻、24 种绿藻和 12 种褐藻。测试了其中一些藻类对最低海面温度的温度耐受性。结果表明，一种Chaetomorpha vieillardii可以在奥克兰冬季最低海面温度下生存。我们的研究结果对新西兰的生物安全具有重要意义，因为进入新西兰海洋水族馆贸易的大量外来大型藻类不仅不受监管，而且它们也有可能在新西兰水域生存。