Table 4.
Breadth of national/international management response in Antarctica under different introduction scenarios
| Non-native species introduction type | Introduction location | Management response actiona | Example references | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unilateral | Parties in region | Many/all Parties | ||||
| 1 | Single or small number of plants within a limited area | Near an isolated stationb | Yes | – | – | Pertierra et al. 2013, 2017; Tsujimoto et al. 2010; Molina-Montenegro et al. 2012 |
| Close to several research stationsc | Yes | As appropriate | – | Peter et al. 2008; Smith and Richardson 2011 | ||
| Distant from any research stationsd | Yes | As appropriate | – | – | ||
| 2 | Several plants spread across a wider area, potentially with seed bank present | Near an isolated station | Yes | – | – | – |
| Close to several research stations | Yes | As appropriate | – | Galera et al. 2017, 2019 | ||
| Distant from any research stations | – | Yes | – | – | ||
| 3 | Invertebrates living synanthropically within a research station | Within an isolated station | Yes | – | – | Hughes et al. 2005; Bergstrom et al. 2018 |
| Within one station close to other research stations | Yes | As appropriate | – | COMNAP 2014 | ||
| Within several stations located in the same vicinity | – | Yes | As appropriate | Volonterio et al. 2013; Potocka and Krzemińska 2018; This study | ||
| 4 | Invertebrates living within the natural environment | Near an isolated station | Yes | As appropriate | As appropriate | Hughes et al. 2017 |
| Close to several research stations | – | Yes | As appropriate | Enriquez et al. 2019 | ||
| Distant from any research station | As appropriate | As appropriate | As appropriate | – | ||
| 5 | Terrestrial vertebrates (e.g. rodents) | Within or close to an isolated station | Yes | – | – | – |
| Within or close to one station near other research stations | – | Yes | – | Peter et al. 2008 | ||
| Within or in the local area of several stations located in the same vicinity | – | Yes | – | – | ||
| 6 | Marine plants and invertebrates | Near an isolated station | ?e | ? | ? | |
| Close to several research stations | ?e | ? | ? | Cárdenas et al. 2020 | ||
| Distant from any research station | ?e | ? | ? | |||
| 7 | Wildlife pathogen causing animal mass mortality events | Near an isolated station | – | Yesf | – | Leotta et al. 2006; Clarke and Kerry 1993 |
| Close to several research stations | – | Yesf | – | – | ||
| Remote from any research stations | – | – | Yesf | Laws and Taylor 1957 | ||
aWhile all Parties in the vicinity of the introduction location may not be actively engaged in management of the introduced species, it would be appropriate to ensure Parties are kept informed of developments in case the situation escalates and other Parties need to become involved (see Hughes and Pertierra, 2016). Any management actions should be in addition to ongoing routine biosecurity measures that should be implemented by all national Antarctic programmes and the tourism industry, and as advocated by CEP, SCAR, COMNAP and IAATO. It may be difficult or impossible to ascertain which (if any) Party was responsible for a specific non-native species introduction, so all Parties should be prepared to engage in any response action, as necessary
bExamples of introductions near isolated research stations may include those located on islands or remote areas, for example, >50 km from other stations
cStation located within an cluster of stations, e.g., those on King George Island, Livingston Island, Larsemann Hills or Ross Island (McMurdo Sound)
dSpecies confirmed to be non-native and located far from existing station infrastructure, but potentially near a tourist visitor site, protected area or deep field research location
eAs yet, there have been no attempts to eradicate marine non-native species within the Antarctic Treaty area, and this is likely to be almost impossible given the environmental conditions and available infrastructure and technologies (see McCarthy et al. 2019; Cárdenas et al. 2020; Hughes et al. 2020). Response action may be limited to communication of the introduction to other Parties operating in the region
fResponse action in the event of an animal mass mortality event may be limited to the application of appropriate biosecurity measures, with communication of the event to all national operators and the tourism industry, including IAATO (CEP 2019)