Richness and zoogeography of ascidians (Tunicata: Ascidiacea) in eastern Canada
Ma, K.C.K.; Deibel, D.; Law, K.K.M.; Aoki, M.; McKenzie, C.H.; Palomares, M.L.D. (2017). Richness and zoogeography of ascidians (Tunicata: Ascidiacea) in eastern Canada. Can. J. Zool. 95(1): 51-59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2016-0087
In: Canadian Journal of Zoology = Revue canadienne de zoologie. National Research Council: Ottawa. ISSN 0008-4301; e-ISSN 1480-3283, meer
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| Trefwoorden |
Zoogeography
Ascidiacea [WoRMS]
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| Author keywords |
Ascidians; indigenous; non indigenous; cryptogenic; species richness; eastern Canada |
| Auteurs | | Top |
- Ma, K.C.K.
- Deibel, D.
- Law, K.K.M.
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- Aoki, M.
- McKenzie, C.H.
- Palomares, M.L.D.
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| Abstract |
Managers and policymakers in eastern Canada embrace science-based management of non-indigenous species and may benefit from having comprehensive regional species checklists at sub-national jurisdictional levels. In this paper, regional checklists provide an account of the richness of ascidians in eastern Canada. Records of 58 ascidians resulted from reviewing 108 published sources, accessing data from two online databases, and collecting some common indigenous ascidian specimens. Analysis comparing the similarity of species among nine regions indicates that there is greater similarity in species composition between contiguous regions than between non-contiguous regions and suggests that there are four zoogeographic clusters in eastern Canada. Our checklists can inform managers and policymakers of the diversity of the ascidian taxa and can minimise taxonomic uncertainties of established non-indigenous and prospective invading species, for example, by identifying indigenous species that are congeners of non-indigenous species. The maintenance of checklists can be a valuable tool for the management of non-indigenous species as baselines to estimate changes in richness and to document the invasion status of non-indigenous species over time. For example, more importance can be placed on the spread of non-indigenous ascidians from one zoogeographic cluster to another than spread within the same cluster. |
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