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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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May 2013 Feature Story Does high ship traffic mean high numbers of introduced species? The link between shipping and introduced species is well researched. We know that ballast water and hull fouling has led to numerous introductions, but can we use the number of ship arrivals to predict which bays will have high numbers of introduced species? Full Story New Publications Cox, Traci E., Philippoff, Joanna, Baumgartner, Erin, Zabin, Chela J. and Smith, Celia M. 2013. Spatial and Temporal Variation in Rocky Intertidal Communities Along the Main Hawaiian Islands. Pacific Science, 67(1): 23-45. Frazier, Melanie, A. Whitman Miller, and Gregory M. Ruiz. 2013. Linking science and policy to prevent the spread of invasive species from the ballast water discharge of ships. Ecological Applications 23:287–289. Frazier, Melanie, Miller, A. Whitman, Lee, Henry, II and Reusser, Deborah Ann. 2013. Counting at low concentrations: the statistical challenges of verifying ballast water discharge standards. Ecological Applications, 23(2): 339 doi:10.1890/11-1639.1 Freestone, Amy L., Ruiz, Gregory M. and Torchin, Mark E. 2013. Stronger biotic resistance in tropics relative to temperate zone: effects of predation on marine invasion dynamics. Ecology, doi:10.1890/12-1382.1 Murphy, Kathleen R., Boehme, Jennifer R., Brown, Christopher, Noble, Monaca, Smith, George, Sparks, Darrick and Ruiz, Gregory M. 2013. Exploring the limits of dissolved organic matter fluorescence for determining seawater sources and ballast water exchange on the US Pacific coast. Journal of Marine Systems, 111-112: 157-166. doi:10.1016/j.jmarsys.2012.10.010 Ruiz, Gregory M., Paul W. Fofonoff, Gail Ashton, Mark S. Minton, and A. Whitman Miller. 2013. Geographic variation in marine invasions among large estuaries: effects of ships and time. Ecological Applications 23:311–320. Reusser, Deborah A., Henry Lee II, Melanie Frazier, Gregory M. Ruiz, Paul W. Fofonoff, Mark S. Minton, and A. Whitman Miller. 2013. Per capita invasion probabilities: an empirical model to predict rates of invasion via ballast water. Ecological Applications 23:321–330. 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