The role of copper in facilitating the invasion of sessile marine invertebrate communities by pests: effects of copper pulse frequency in developing assemblages

Disturbance events are thought to provide an opportunity for the colonisation and establishment of invasive species. Contamination of coastal waters with copper from sewage outfall and antifouling paints may create a disturbance that favours the establishment of introduced sessile invertebrates. This study examines if the frequency of experimentally applied doses of copper sulfate increases the abundance of introduced sessile invertebrate species within developing (2-weeks old) and established (9-months old) assemblages. Responses to regular and irregularly applied doses of copper were also tested in developing assemblages.This dataset gives the effects of copper pulse frequency on the number of native and introduced taxa within developing (2-weeks old) sessile invertebrate assemblages. Studies were carried out over 16 weeks between October 2004 and January 2005 at two sites in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria; Workshops Jetty, Williamstown and Point Henry Pier. Workshops Jetty is reported to have higher abundances of sessile invertebrates and is more polluted than Point Henry Pier, providing a comparison between sites with different community assemblages and environment conditions. At Workshops Jetty, four treatments were tested: an undosed control, or copper pulses applied every 4, 3 or 2 weeks. At Point Henry, the same treatments were applied, except for the copper pulse application every 3 weeks. Overall, this study found no evidence to support the hypothesis that disturbance facilitates invasions by introduced species. Disturbance had no effect on the proportion of introduced species and there were no clear differences in the responses on introduced and native species. Whether a species benefited from a disturbance appeared to depend more on its life history characteristics, rather than its point of origin.

干扰事件被认为可为入侵物种（invasive species）的定殖与建立提供契机。排污口与防污涂料所带来的铜质污染物对近岸水体的污染，可形成一类有利于引入型固着无脊椎动物（sessile invertebrate）定殖的干扰环境。本研究旨在探究实验施加的硫酸铜剂量频率，是否会提升处于发育阶段（2周龄）与成熟阶段（9月龄）的群落中引入型固着无脊椎动物的丰度。此外，本研究还在发育阶段的群落中，测试了生物对定期与非定期施加铜剂量的响应。本数据集记录了铜脉冲（copper pulse）频率对发育阶段（2周龄）固着无脊椎动物群落中本土与引入类群（taxon）数量的影响。本研究于2004年10月至2005年1月间，在维多利亚州菲利普港湾的2处实验站点开展，为期16周：威廉斯敦的Workshops Jetty码头与亨利角码头（Point Henry Pier）。据报道，Workshops Jetty码头的固着无脊椎动物丰度更高，且污染程度较亨利角码头更严重，这为对比群落组成与环境条件存在差异的实验站点提供了条件。在Workshops Jetty码头，本研究测试了4种处理方式：无添加的对照组，以及每4周、每3周、每2周施加一次铜脉冲处理；而在亨利角码头，除了每3周施加铜脉冲这一处理外，其余3种处理方式保持一致。综合来看，本研究未发现证据支持"干扰可促进引入物种入侵"这一假说。干扰对引入物种的占比无显著影响，且引入物种与本土物种的响应未呈现明确差异。物种是否能从干扰中获益，似乎更多取决于其生活史特征，而非其原产地。