Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Syrian Arab Republic

Izdihar A. Ammar; Hadeel Arraj; Firas Alshawy; Lian Jenna Wong; Shyama Pagad

doi:10.15468/zmkvkf

Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Syrian Arab Republic

Citation

Ammar I A, Arraj H, Alshawy F, Wong L J, Pagad S (2020). Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species - Syrian Arab Republic. Version 1.4. Invasive Species Specialist Group ISSG. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/zmkvkf accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-12.

Description

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) presents validated and verified national checklists of introduced (alien) and invasive alien species at the country, territory, and associated island level. Checklists are living entities, especially for biological invasions given the growing nature of the problem. GRIIS checklists are based on a published methodology and supported by the Integrated Publishing Tool that jointly enable ongoing improvements and updates to expand their taxonomic coverage and completeness. Phase 1 of the project focused on developing validated and verified checklists of countries that are Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Phase 2 aimed to achieve global coverage including non-party countries and all overseas territories of countries, e.g. those of the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. All kingdoms of organisms occurring in all environments and systems are covered. Checklists are reviewed and verified by networks of country or species experts. Verified checklists/ species records, as well as those under review, are presented on the online GRIIS website (www.griis.org) in addition to being published through the GBIF Integrated Publishing Tool.

Purpose

The resource will be a support to countries to make progress to achieve Aichi Biodiversity Target 9 -in the development of their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans, their National Invasive Alien Species Strategy and Action Plan, target setting and monitoring.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

The geographic focus of this checklist is Syria

Sampling

This annotated checklist is focused on introduced (alien) and invasive species that are known to occur in Syria The International Union for Conservation of Nature, (IUCN) describes an Introduced/ Alien and Invasive alien species as follows:
An Introduced or Alien species means a species, subspecies, or lower taxon occurring outside of its natural range (past or present) and dispersal potential (i.e. outside the range it occupies naturally or could not occupy without direct or indirect introduction or care by humans) and includes any part, gametes or propagule of such species that might survive and subsequently reproduce. An Invasive Alien Species is an alien species which becomes established in natural or semi-natural ecosystems or habitat, is an agent of change, and threatens native biological diversity. In GRIIS, species are recorded as having an impact (as 'yes' under 'isInvasive') if there is evidence of the species negatively impacting biodiversity, and including species that are widespread, spreading rapidly or present in high abundance (Pagad et al. 2018). This usage is relevant to the purpose of GRIIS, and consistent with the concept of impact as formulated by Parker et al. (1999) and now widely used (e.g. Didham et al. 2005, Strayer et al. 2006, McGeoch et al. 2010, 2012, Vila et al. 2011), where impact is a function not only of the per capita effect of an individual organism, but is a combined function of the effect, abundance and range size of a species. Impact can of course be defined in different ways, driven by different objectives, such as its usage in EICAT where it is defined as a measurable change to the properties of an ecosystem caused by an alien taxon (Hawkins et al. 2015).

Quality Control

The draft checklist is compiled by collating data and information through a comprehensive literature overview. Additional steps implemented to control the quality of the data are described below. Taxonomic harmonization and normalization using the GBIF taxonomic backbone To harmonize all species names across countries, species lists are subjected to a normalization process in which taxon rank and taxonomic status are identified and assigned. Spelling and other errors in assigning species authorship are also corrected. Data validation The Project Personnel complete a review and validate all the annotations, especially those on provenance and 'invasive' status of the species based on evidence of impact. Data verification The checklist is submitted to a network of country editors for a review of both accuracy of records, annotations, and identification of any significant gaps in the data. Data verification is an iterative process and the activity for a particular version is declared complete on agreement of all relevant country editors (see versioning details below). One of the key tenets of the GRIIS project has been engagement with country editors in the verification process and as custodians of country checklists. While this has been possible in the majority of countries, for a small number of countries this engagement process has not succeeded in delivering a verified checklist. In these cases, the GRIIS Project Personnel have completed the validation of the species records but continue to work towards identifying country experts.

Method steps

Data collation and categorization Data filtering and categorization/ classification Taxonomic harmonization and normalization Data validation Data verification
The published methods underpinning GRIIS and each checklist are described in Pagad et al 2018.

Additional info

The original versions of each country checklist (v1.0) undergo two potential types of updates: 1. Major updates: These happen when batches of new species or records become available, usually addressing multiple taxonomic groups simultaneously. Each checklist is assigned a new version number after a major update (e.g. from v1.0 to v2.0). 2. Incremental updates: These are smaller ongoing updates involving the addition of new species or records based on new publications as well as taxonomic or other updates. Incremental updates to a checklist are associated with a subversion number, e.g. v1.1. The checklist version number is visible/available on the citation.

Taxonomic Coverages

Animalia, Bacteria, Chromista, Fungi, Plantae, Protozoa, Viruses

Animalia
rank: kingdom
Bacteria
rank: kingdom
Chromista
rank: kingdom
Fungi
rank: kingdom
Plantae
rank: kingdom
Protozoa
rank: kingdom
Viruses
rank: kingdom

Geographic Coverages

Syrian Arab Republic

Bibliographic Citations

Hamer, M., Victor, J., Smith, G.F. (2012). Best Practice Guide for Compiling, Maintaining and Disseminating National Species Checklists, version 1.0, released in October 2012. Copenhagen: Global Biodiversity Information Facility, 40 pp, ISBN: 87-92020-48-8, Accessible at http://www.gbif.org/orc/?doc_id=4752. -
Pagad S, Genovesi P, Carnevali L, Schigel D, McGeoch MA (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data, 5, 170202. https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata2017202 -
Parker I, Simberloff D, Lonsdale W. et al. (1999) Impact: Toward a Framework for Understanding the Ecological Effects of Invaders. Biological Invasions 1, 3–19 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010034312781 -
Didham RK, Tylianakis JM, Hutchison MA, Ewers RM, Gemmell NJ. (2005) Are invasive species the drivers of ecological change? Trends Ecol Evol. 2005 Sep;20(9):470-4. Epub 2005 Jul 21. -
Strayer DL, Eviner VT, Jeschke JM, Pace ML. (2006) Understanding the long-term effects of species invasions. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 21(11):645-51 -
McGeoch MA, Butchart SHM, Spear D, Marais E. Kleynhans EJ, Symes A, Chanson J, Hoffmann M. (2010) Global indicators of biological invasion: species numbers, biodiversity impact and policy responses. Diversity and Distributions Volume16, Issue1 January 2010. -
McGeoch, M.A., Spear, D., Kleynhans, E.J. & Marais, E. 2012. Uncertainty in invasive alien species listing. Ecological Applications 22, 959-971. 10.1890/11-1252.1 -
Vilà M, Espinar JL, Hejda M, Hulme PE, Jarošík V, Maron JL, Pergl J, Schaffner U, Sun Y, Pyšek P. (2011) Ecological impacts of invasive alien plants: a meta‐analysis of their effects on species, communities and ecosystems. Ecology Letters Volume14, Issue7 July 2011 Pages 702-708 -
Hawkins CL, Bacher S, Essl F, Hulme PE, Jeschke JM, Kühn I, Kumschick S, Nentwig W, Pergl J, Pyšek P, Rabitsch W, Richardson DM, Vilà M, Wilson JRU, Genovesi P, Blackburn TM. (2015) Framework and guidelines for implementing the proposed IUCN Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) Diversity and Distributions Volume21, Issue11 November 2015 Pages 1360-1363 -
Abbas, A. (2015). "Three new records of marine green algae (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) from the Syrian coast." Tishreen University Journal for Research and Scientific Studies-Biological Sciences Series 73(1): 23-37. -
Ali, M. F. (2018). "An updated checklist of the marine fishes from Syria with emphasis on alien species." Mediterranean Marine Science 19(2): 388-393. -
Ammar, I. (1995). Quantitative and qualitative study of zoobenthos in Lattakia coast, Master thesis, Tishreen University Lattakia, Syria. 173 p.(In Arabic). -
Ammar, I. (2019). "Updated list of alien macrozoobenthic species along the Syrian coast." International Journal of Aquatic Biology 7(4): 180-194. -
Bitar, G. d., et al. (2003). "Second mission relating to the development of marine protected areas on Syrian coasts." Mission Report: 2003. -
CAB International (2014) CABI Invasive Species Compendium (ISC) -
FAO (2018). "DIAS. FAO Database on Introductions of Aquatic Species." -
Froese, R. and D. Pauly (2002). "FishBase: a global information system on fishes." World Wide Web electronic publication: www. fishbase. org. -
Hassan, M., et al. (2003). "Lessepsian invasion without bottleneck: example of two rabbitfish species (Siganus rivulatus and Siganus luridus)." Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 291(2): 219-232. -
Katsanevakis, S., et al. (2014). "New mediterranean biodiversity records (October, 2014)." Mediterranean Marine Science 15(3): 675-695. -
Mayhoub, H. and C. Billard (1991). "Contribution to the Genus Stypopodium with a Species Recently Established on the Coast of Syria." Cryptogamie Algologie 12(2): 125-136. -
Tastad, A., et al. (2010). "Ecological dynamics of protected and unprotected rangelands in three climatic zones of Syria." Pak. J. Agri. Sci 47(2): 89-98. -
Zibrowius, H. and G. Bitar (2003). "Invertébrés marins exotiques sur la côte du Liban." Lebanese science journal 4(1): 67-74. -

Contacts

Izdihar A. Ammar
originator
position: Professor
High Institute of Marine Research, Tishreen Univ. Latakia, SYRIA
SY
email: izdiammar@gmail.com

Hadeel Arraj
originator
High Institute of Marine Research, Tishreen Univ. Latakia, SYRIA
SY
email: hadeel.arraj@gmail.com

Firas Alshawy
originator
position: PhD student
High Institute of Marine Research, Tishreen Univ. Latakia, SYRIA
SY
email: falshawy@gmail.com

Lian Jenna Wong
originator
position: Research Assistant
Biodiversity Data Management Ltd
NZ
email: biodivdatamgt@gmail.com

Shyama Pagad
originator
position: Deputy Chair- Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
metadata author
position: Deputy Chair- Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
user
position: Deputy Chair- Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz

Shyama Pagad
administrative point of contact
position: Deputy Chair- Information
IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
NZ
email: s.pagad@auckland.ac.nz