Caribbean Creep meets Chesapeake Creep: marine bioinvasions and community shifts along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, USA

Abstract The Mid-Atlantic waters of North America are warming faster than > 90% of other global oceans, leading to significant increases in bottom water temperatures and influencing shifts in marine community structure. Given this modern-day scenario of significant community shifts over space and time, baseline surveys of species diversity are increasingly valuable. Therefore, we performed the first-ever marine bioinvasions Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) along the Mid-Atlantic waters of the United States in June 2023, focused on marina floating pontoons in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. We recorded 29 non-indigenous, 16 cryptogenic, and 10 species that have expanded their ranges in the mid-Atlantic. Seven of these 10 species have expanded northwards from southern locations in the Caribbean (“Caribbean Creep”) or the western Atlantic (“Chesapeake Creep”), and three have expanded southwards. Five non-indigenous species (NIS) were found at more than 60% of the 10 sampled sites: the bryozoans Bugula neritina , Schizoporella pungens , Tricellaria inopinata, macroalgae Codium fragile subsp. fragile , and the sea anemone Aiptasiogeton eruptaurantia . We did not document any new nonindigenous species not already recorded on the Western Atlantic coast. All 10 communities were distinctly different, and species dominance varied by latitude and by site. This first-ever RAS of the Mid-Atlantic waters of the United States provides critical insight into how marine communities have been and are changing as a result of colonization by NIS, including those that have expanded their ranges as a result of human-induced climate change.

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Publication Details

Journal
Biological Invasions
Published
2025-08-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-025-03646-w
Primary Topic
Marine Ecology and Invasive Species
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Caribbean Creep meets Chesapeake Creep: marine bioinvasions and community shifts along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, USA

James T. Carlton, Carter Stancil, S. Greenberg, Andrew A. Davinack et al.
Biological Invasions
Marine Ecology and Invasive Species
article

Caribbean Creep meets Chesapeake Creep: marine bioinvasions and community shifts along the Mid-Atlantic Coast, USA

James T. Carlton, Carter Stancil, S. Greenberg, Andrew A. Davinack, Carol Thornber, Stuart Parsons, Robert Aguilar, Lindsay A. Green, Megan McCuller, Henry Choong, Amy E. Fowler, Kristen Larson, Sabrina Labbé, April M. H. Blakeslee, Clara Benadon, Magnus Andersen, Danielle M. Moloney, Niels-Viggo Hobbs, Judith Pederson, El Hartshorn
article en

Abstract

Abstract The Mid-Atlantic waters of North America are warming faster than > 90% of other global oceans, leading to significant increases in bottom water temperatures and influencing shifts in marine community structure. Given this modern-day scenario of significant community shifts over space and time, baseline surveys of species diversity are increasingly valuable. Therefore, we performed the first-ever marine bioinvasions Rapid Assessment Survey (RAS) along the Mid-Atlantic waters of the United States in June 2023, focused on marina floating pontoons in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. We recorded 29 non-indigenous, 16 cryptogenic, and 10 species that have expanded their ranges in the mid-Atlantic. Seven of these 10 species have expanded northwards from southern locations in the Caribbean (“Caribbean Creep”) or the western Atlantic (“Chesapeake Creep”), and three have expanded southwards. Five non-indigenous species (NIS) were found at more than 60% of the 10 sampled sites: the bryozoans Bugula neritina , Schizoporella pungens , Tricellaria inopinata, macroalgae Codium fragile subsp. fragile , and the sea anemone Aiptasiogeton eruptaurantia . We did not document any new nonindigenous species not already recorded on the Western Atlantic coast. All 10 communities were distinctly different, and species dominance varied by latitude and by site. This first-ever RAS of the Mid-Atlantic waters of the United States provides critical insight into how marine communities have been and are changing as a result of colonization by NIS, including those that have expanded their ranges as a result of human-induced climate change.

Biological InvasionsVol. 27(9)
Boston University (US), Royal British Columbia Museum (CA), North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (US), George Mason University (US), University of Rhode Island (US), East Carolina University (US), Mystic Seaport (US), University of Massachusetts Boston (US), MIT Sea Grant (US), Salve Regina University (US), Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (US), Wheaton College - Illinois (US)
Smithsonian Institution, Williams College, George Mason University, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, East Carolina University, Stockton University, International Association for Open Knowledge on Invasive Alien Species, Delaware Sea Grant, University of Delaware, Maryland Sea Grant, University of Maryland, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Openalex Percentile: Top 80%
Marine Ecology and Invasive Species
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