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About the Lab  The Marine Invasions Research Lab is a national and international center for research on biological invasions in coastal marine ecosystems. Biological invasions (the establishment of species beyond their historical range) are a major force of ecological and evolutionary change. Invasions are fundamentally changing the structure and function of ecosystems around the world and are impacting many dimensions of human society. The observed rates and impacts of new invasions have increased dramatically in recent time. ...more

National database of marine invasions

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Feature Story - Summer 2016 Uncharted waters: what barnacles can teach us about species dispersal Researchers from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s (SERC) Marine Invasions Lab used barnacles to investigate the extent to which fouling species are dispersed outside of their normal ranges on commercial vessels. Through this study, published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, the researchers gained a better understanding of how commercial vessels may affect the global distribution of species.  Full Story New Publications Ashton, Gail V., Davidson, I. C., Geller, J. and Ruiz, G. M. 2016. Disentangling the biogeography of ship biofouling: barnacles in the Northeast Pacific. Global Ecology and Biogeography, doi:10.1111/geb.12450 Fowler, Amy E., Blakeslee, April M. H., Canning-Clode, João, Repetto, Michele F., Phillip, Anne M., Carlton, James T., Moser, Fredrika C., Ruiz, Gregory M. and Miller, A. Whitman. 2016. Opening Pandora's bait box: a potent vector for biological invasions of live marine species. Diversity and Distributions, 22(1): 30-42. doi:10.1111/ddi.12376 Hughes, Kevin A. and Ashton, Gail V. 2016. Breaking the ice: the introduction of biofouling organisms to Antarctica on vessel hulls. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, Jimenez, H. and Ruiz, G. M. 2016. Contribution of non-native species to soft-sediment marine community structure of San Francisco Bay, California. Biological Invasions, doi:10.1007/s10530-016-1147-9 Moser, Cameron S., Wier, Timothy P., Grant, Jonathan F., First, Matthew R., Tamburri, Mario N., Ruiz, Gregory M., Miller, A. Whitman and Drake, Lisa A. 2016. Quantifying the total wetted surface area of the world fleet: a first step in determining the potential extent of ships’ biofouling. Biological Invasions, 18(1): 265-277. doi:10.1007/s10530-015-1007-z Noble M, Ruiz G and Murphy K (2016). Chemical assessment of ballast water exchange compliance: Implementation in North America and New Zealand. Front. Mar. Sci. 3:66. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2016.00066 Pagenkopp Lohan, K. M., Fleischer, Robert C., Carney, K. J., Holzer, K. K. and Ruiz, Gregory M. 2016. Amplicon-Based Pyrosequencing Reveals High Diversity of Protistan Parasites in Ships' Ballast Water: Implications for Biogeography and Infectious Diseases. Microbial ecology, 71(3): 530-542. doi:10.1007/s00248-015-0684-6 Sheets, Elizabeth A., Cohen, C. S., Ruiz, Gregory M. and da Rocha, Rosana M. 2016. Investigating the widespread introduction of a tropical marine fouling species. Ecology and Evolution, 6(8): 2453-2471. doi:10.1002/ece3.2065 Verna, Danielle E., Harris, Bradley P., Holzer, Kimberly K. and Minton, Mark S. 2016. Ballast-borne marine invasive species: exploring the risk to coastal Alaska, USA. Management of Biological Invasions (2016) Volume 7 in press See full listing

Dr. Gregory M. Ruiz/Senior Scientist Smithsonian Environmental Research Center 647 Contees Wharf Road, PO Box 28 Edgewater, Maryland 21037 Phone:(443) 482-2227 Email: ruizg@si.edu Public Outreach: Monaca Noble Phone: (443) 482-2467, T-TH Email: noblem@si.edu