The Fish Invasiveness Scoring Kit (FISK) is currently one of the most popular pre‐screening tools for freshwater fishes. A recent upgrade has ensured its wider climatic relevance to countries with subtropical regions. This enhancement is of particular importance to Australia, which encompasses tropical, arid, and temperate zones, and where the introduction of non‐native fish species poses a significant risk to biodiversity. In this study, 55 fish species previously evaluated in a U.K.‐based calibration of FISK are reassessed for their potential invasiveness in the Murray‐Darling Basin (MDB; southeastern Australia), the continent's largest catchment encompassing arid and temperate climates. Approximately half of the species were classed as "medium risk" and the other half as "high risk," and the ≥19 threshold previously identified from the calibration study was confirmed. The three highest scoring species (common carp Cyprinus carpio carpio, goldfish Carassius auratus, and eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki) were those already present and invasive in the area, whereas nearly half of the tropical and subtropical species had lower scores compared to U.K. assessments, possibly because of climate change predictions of drier conditions across the MDB. There were some discordances between FISK and two Australian‐based assessment protocols, one of which is qualitative and the other represents a simplified version of FISK. Notably, the Australian origins of FISK should provide for an additional reason for further applications of the tool in other RA areas (i.e., drainage basins) of the continent, ultimately encouraging adoption as the country's reference screening tool for management and conservation purposes.
The climatic conditions of north temperate countries pose unique influences on the rates of invasion and the potential adverse impacts of non‐native species. Methods are needed to evaluate these risks, beginning with the pre‐screening of non‐native species for potential invasives. Recent improvements to the Fish Invasiveness Scoring Kit (FISK) have provided a means (i.e., FISK v2) of identifying potentially invasive non‐native freshwater fishes in virtually all climate zones. In this study, FISK is applied for the first time in a north temperate country, southern Finland, and calibrated to determine the appropriate threshold score for fish species that are likely to pose a high risk of being invasive in this risk assessment area. The threshold between "medium" and "high" risk was determined to be 22.5, which is slightly higher than the original threshold for the United Kingdom (i.e., 19) and that determined for a FISK application in southern Japan (19.8). This underlines the need to calibrate such decision‐support tools for the different areas where they are employed. The results are evaluated in the context of current management strategies in Finland regarding non‐native fishes.
Vilizzi, Lorenzo/0000-0001-8103-885X ; WOS: 000372004600008 ; Although common carp are known to have been present in Ireland since the early 17th century, historically the species' distribution was extremely localised. Owing to the popularity of carp as a sport fish in more recent times, it was suspected that the species range had expanded. Distribution maps were constructed from records in the published literature and consultations with both angling and governmental bodies, facilitating a review of the temporal changes in the range and distribution of carp from 1950 to the present day. There has been a significant increase in the range of distribution of carp, by order of 302% in the national 10 km grid-square network. The characteristic pattern of extinction and colonisation of carp in Irish water bodies clearly indicates that the species has not spread by natural dispersal but rather by human-mediated transfers, which are the mechanism for the species' range expansion. While carp has been able to establish self-sustaining populations in Ireland, these remain restricted to smaller, often land-locked, water bodies. Future climatic warming and the increasing popularity of carp as an angling quarry may facilitate further range expansion, both naturally and human mediated. ; Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) ; The authors are indebted to the support and guidance provided by G.H. Copp, R. Britton and J. Caffrey. We would also like to thank F. Lucy, P. O' Donoghue and D. Kelleghan for their kind support during the project. Contribution to this study by LV was possible through a 2221 Fellowship Programme provided by The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK).
The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium- and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions. The 1730 screenings undertaken encompassed wide geographical areas (regions, political entities, parts thereof, water bodies, river basins, lake drainage basins, and marine regions), which permitted thresholds to be identified for almost all aquatic organismal groups screened as well as for tropical, temperate and continental climate classes, and for tropical and temperate marine ecoregions. In total, 33 species were identified as posing a 'very high risk' of being or becoming invasive, and the scores of several of these species under current climate increased under future climate conditions, primarily due to their wide thermal tolerances. The risk thresholds determined for taxonomic groups and climate zones provide a basis against which area-specific or climate-based calibrated thresholds may be interpreted. In turn, the risk rankings help decision-makers identify which species require an immediate 'rapid' management action (e.g. eradication, control) to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts, which require a full risk assessment, and which are to be restricted or banned with regard to importation and/or sale as ornamental or aquarium/fishery enhancement.
To inform aquatic conservation policy and management decisions, translocated freshwater fish species, i.e. those native to part but not all of Great Britain (GB), were assessed with the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK) at two spatial levels (River Basin District [RBD] and GB overall), the outcome scores calibrated and analysed to determine the relevance of geographical scale (GB, RBD and freshwater ecoregion) on AS-ISK outcome score rankings. The 16 species assessed received scores that showed limited among-RBD variation, with all but only one species (silver bream Blicca bjoerkna) receiving the same risk ranking across all RBDs for which they were assessed. A trend of increasing AS-ISK score with decreasing RBD latitudinal location was observed, with two species (bleak Alburnus alburnus and tench Tinca tinca) found to have significantly higher AS-ISK scores in west-coast RBDs than in RBDs to the north and east, and one species (bleak Alburnus alburnus) to have significantly higher AS-ISK scores in southern RBDs than in northern RBDs. The Water Framework Directive classification of Scotland was found to be inconsistent with the latitudinal gradients in thatcountry's environmental conditions, which are better reflected in the distinction of northern and southern freshwater ecoregions. The ramifications of these legislative classifications for aquatic conservation are discussed.
Risk assessments are crucial for identifying and mitigating impacts from biological invasions. The Fish Invasiveness Scoring Kit (FISK) is a risk identification (screening) tool for freshwater fishes consisting of two subject areas: biogeography/history and biology/ecology. According to the outcomes, species can be classified under particular risk categories. The aim of this study was to apply FISK to the Iberian Peninsula, a Mediterranean climate region highly important for freshwater fish conservation due to a high level of endemism. In total, 89 fish species were assessed by three independent assessors. Results from receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that FISK can discriminate reliably between noninvasive and invasive fishes for Iberia, with a threshold of 20.25, similar to those obtained in several regions around the world. Based on mean scores, no species was categorized as "low risk," 50 species as "medium risk," 17 as "moderately high risk," 11 as "high risk," and 11 as "very high risk." The highest scoring species was goldfish Carassius auratus. Mean certainty in response was above the category "mostly certain," ranging from tinfoil barb Barbonymus schwanenfeldii with the lowest certainty to eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki with the highest level. Pair‐wise comparison showed significant differences between one assessor and the other two on mean certainty, with these two assessors showing a high coincidence rate for the species categorization. Overall, the results suggest that FISK is a useful and viable tool for assessing risks posed by non‐native fish in the Iberian Peninsula and contributes to a "watch list" in this region.
To inform aquatic conservation policy and management decisions, translocated freshwater fish species, i.e. those native to part but not all of Great Britain (GB), were assessed with the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK) at two spatial levels (River Basin District [RBD] and GB overall), the outcome scores calibrated and analysed to determine the relevance of geographical scale (GB, RBD and freshwater ecoregion) on AS-ISK outcome score rankings. The 16 species assessed received scores that showed limited among-RBD variation, with all but only one species (silver bream Blicca bjoerkna) receiving the same risk ranking across all RBDs for which they were assessed. A trend of increasing AS-ISK score with decreasing RBD latitudinal location was observed, with two species (bleak Alburnus alburnus and tench Tinca tinca) found to have significantly higher AS-ISK scores in west-coast RBDs than in RBDs to the north and east, and one species (bleak Alburnus alburnus) to have significantly higher AS-ISK scores in southern RBDs than in northern RBDs. The Water Framework Directive classification of Scotland was found to be inconsistent with the latitudinal gradients in that country's environmental conditions, which are better reflected in the distinction of northern and southern freshwater ecoregions. The ramifications of these legislative classifications for aquatic conservation are discussed.
The initial version (v1) of the Fish Invasiveness Scoring Kit (FISK) was adapted from the Weed Risk Assessment of Pheloung, Williams, and Halloy to assess the potential invasiveness of nonnative freshwater fishes in the United Kingdom. Published applications of FISK v1 have been primarily in temperate‐zone countries (Belgium, Belarus, and Japan), so the specificity of this screening tool to that climatic zone was not noted until attempts were made to apply it in peninsular Florida. To remedy this shortcoming, the questions and guidance notes of FISK v1 were reviewed and revised to improve clarity and extend its applicability to broader climatic regions, resulting in changes to 36 of the 49 questions. In addition, upgrades were made to the software architecture of FISK to improve overall computational speed as well as graphical user interface flexibility and friendliness. We demonstrate the process of screening a fish species using FISK v2 in a realistic management scenario by assessing the Barcoo grunter Scortum barcoo (Terapontidae), a species whose management concerns are related to its potential use for aquaponics in Florida. The FISK v2 screening of Barcoo grunter placed the species into the lower range of medium risk (score = 5), suggesting it is a permissible species for use in Florida under current nonnative species regulations. Screening of the Barcoo grunter illustrates the usefulness of FISK v2 as a proactive tool serving to inform risk management decisions, but the low level of confidence associated with the assessment highlighted a dearth of critical information on this species.
The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium- and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions. The 1730 screenings undertaken encompassed wide geographical areas (regions, political entities, parts thereof, water bodies, river basins, lake drainage basins, and marine regions), which permitted thresholds to be identified for almost all aquatic organismal groups screened as well as for tropical, temperate and continental climate classes, and for tropical and temperate marine ecoregions. In total, 33 species were identified as posing a 'very high risk' of being or becoming invasive, and the scores of several of these species under current climate increased under future climate conditions, primarily due to their wide thermal tolerances. The risk thresholds determined for taxonomic groups and climate zones provide a basis against which area-specific or climate-based calibrated thresholds may be interpreted. In turn, the risk rankings help decision-makers identify which species require an immediate 'rapid' management action (e.g. eradication, control) to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts, which require a full risk assessment, and which are to be restricted or banned with regard to importation and/or sale as ornamental or aquarium/fishery enhancement. ; This study is dedicated to our co-author, the late Prof. Olaf Weyl, whose sudden passing during field work in November 2020 was received by us with great sadness. This study represents a contribution to the term of reference 'd' ("Advance knowledge base to further develop indicators to evaluate the status and impact of non-indigenous species in marine environments") of the ICES working group on Introductions and Transfers of Marine Organisms. The participation of GHC was supported by the Cefas Science Excellence fund. AW and ÁF were supported by TKP2020-NKA-16 project.
The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium-and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions. The 1730 screenings undertaken encompassed wide geographical areas (regions, political entities, parts thereof, water bodies, river basins, lake drainage basins, and marine regions), which permitted thresholds to be identified for almost all aquatic organismal groups screened as well as for tropical, temperate and continental climate classes, and for tropical and temperate marine ecoregions. In total, 33 species were identified as posing a 'very high risk' of being or becoming invasive, and the scores of several of these species under current climate increased under future climate conditions, primarily due to their wide thermal tolerances. The risk thresholds determined for taxonomic groups and climate zones provide a basis against which area-specific or climate-based calibrated thresholds may be interpreted. In turn, the risk rankings help decision-makers identify which species require an immediate 'rapid' management action (e.g. eradication, control) to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts, which require a full risk assessment, and which are to be restricted or banned with regard to importation and/or sale as ornamental or aquarium/fishery enhancement. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; Cefas Science Excellence fund; [TKP2020-NKA-16] ; This study is dedicated to our co-author, the late Prof. Olaf Weyl, whose sudden passing during field work in November 2020 was received by us with great sadness. This study represents a contribution to the term of reference 'd' (Advance knowledge base to further develop indicators to evaluate the status and impact of non-indigenous species in marine environments) of the ICES working group on Introductions and Transfers of Marine Organisms. The participation of GHC was supported by the Cefas Science Excellence fund. AW and AF were supported by TKP2020-NKA-16 project. ; WOS:000663799700017 ; 2-s2.0-85106630815 ; PubMed: 34134389
Weyl, Olaf/0000-0002-8935-3296; Perdikaris, Costas/0000-0002-5417-6242; Simonovic, Predrag/0000-0002-4819-4962; Leuven, Rob/0000-0001-5434-6005; Ribeiro, Filipe Manuel Vidas/0000-0003-3531-5072; Verreycken, Hugo/0000-0003-2060-7005; Magalhaes, Maria Filomena/0000-0001-7308-2279; Tarkan, Ali Serhan/0000-0001-8628-0514; Vilizzi, Lorenzo/0000-0001-8103-885X; Koutsikos, Nicholas/0000-0003-0680-4504; Piria, Marina/0000-0001-6324-9282 ; WOS: 000479264500002 ; The freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has been applied in 35 risk assessment areas in 45 countries across the six inhabited continents (11 applications using FISK v1; 25 using FISK v2). The present study aimed: to assess the breadth of FISK applications and the confidence (certainty) levels associated with the decision-support tool's 49 questions and its ability to distinguish between taxa of low-to-medium and high risk of becoming invasive, and thus provide climate-specific, generalised, calibrated thresholds for risk level categorisation; and to identify the most potentially invasive freshwater fish species on a global level. The 1973 risk assessments were carried out by 70 + experts on 372 taxa (47 of the 51 species listed as invasive in the Global Invasive Species Database ), which in decreasing order of importance belonged to the taxonomic Orders Cypriniformes, Perciformes, Siluriformes, Characiformes, Salmoniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, with the remaining approximate to 8% of taxa distributed across an additional 13 orders. The most widely-screened species (in decreasing importance) were: grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, common carp Cyprinus carpio, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva. Nine 'globally' high risk species were identified: common carp, black bullhead Ameiurus melas, round goby Neogobius melanostomus, Chinese (Amur) sleeper Perccottus glenii, brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus, eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki, largemouth (black) bass Micropterus salmoides, pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus and pikeperch Sander lucioperca. The relevance of this global review to policy, legislation, and risk assessment and management procedures is discussed. ; UK Department of Environment, Food Rural AffairsDepartment for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA); Belarus Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research; Bolyai Janos Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; NRF Professional Development Programme [1010140]; Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), Mexico; Croatian Science Foundation [IP-06-2016]; University of Zagreb [1-28-121]; FRISK Project (FCT) [PTDC/AAG-MAA/0350/2014]; strategic plan of MARE (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre) [UID/MAR/04292/2013]; Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia [OI173025]; National Research Foundation-South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology [110507]; Cefas ; Support for participation was provided to: GHC by Cefas and the UK Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; BA by the Belarus Republican Foundation for Fundamental Research; AF by a Bolyai Janos Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; SMMby the NRF Professional Development Programme (Grant No. 1010140); RM by the Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (CONABIO), Mexico; MP by grants from the Croatian Science Foundation (IP-06-2016) and the University of Zagreb (1-28-121); FR by FRISK Project (FCT Ref. PTDC/AAG-MAA/0350/2014) and by the strategic plan of MARE (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre: UID/MAR/04292/2013); PS by grants from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia (OI173025) and the Croatian Science Foundation (IP-06-2016); OLFW by the National Research Foundation-South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (Grant No. 110507).
Adapted from the weed risk assessment (WRA) of Pheloung, Williams, and Halloy, the fish invasiveness scoring kit (FISK) was proposed as a screening tool for freshwater fishes. This article describes improvements to FISK, in particular the incorporation of confidence (certainty/uncertainty) ranking of the assessors' responses, and reports on the calibration of the score system, specifically: determination of most appropriate score thresholds for classifying nonnative species into low‐, medium‐, and high‐risk categories, assessment of the patterns of assessors' confidences in their responses in the FISK assessments. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, FISK was demonstrated to distinguish accurately (and with statistical confidence) between potentially invasive and noninvasive species of nonnative fishes, with the statistically appropriate threshold score for high‐risk species scores being ≥19. Within the group of species classed as high risk using this new threshold, a "higher risk" category could be visually identified, at present consisting of two species (topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva and gibel carp Carassius gibelio). FISK represents a useful and viable tool to aid decision‐ and policymakers in assessing and classifying freshwater fishes according to their potential invasiveness.
orcid:0000-0001-8628-0514 ; WOS: 000422633100004 ; Electronic decision-support tools are now an essential component of government strategies to battle non-native species, with taxon-specific, paper-based risk analysis schemes often being replaced by taxon-generic tools. This study reports on the development of a decision-support tool for aquatic species, the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit (AS-ISK), which replaces five taxon-specific toolkits for amphibians, freshwater and marine fish and invertebrates (FISK, MFISK, FI-ISK, MI-ISK, Amph-ISK). Adapted from Pheloung et al.'s Weed Risk Assessment (WRA), the "-ISK" toolkits were also "self-automated workbooks" in Excel (R) VisualBasic (R) architecture of the 'WRA. In creating AS-ISK, we incorporated the conceptual approach (questions and guidance) of the generic risk screening module of the European Non-native Species in Aquaculture Risk Analysis Scheme (ENSARS) into a single "turnkey application" that was based on the Excel (R) VisualBasic (R) architecture used by the WRA and its "-ISK" derivatives. Applicable to virtually all climatic zones and all aquatic plants and animals regardless of ecosystem (marine, fresh, brackish water), AS-ISK comprises 49 basic questions on the taxon's biogeographical and historical traits and its biological and ecological interactions. In compliance with the "minimum requirements" for use with the new EU Regulation on invasive alien species of EU concern, AS-ISK includes a preamble of background information on the species as well as questions on its potential socio-economic impacts and those on ecosystem services, and an additional section (six questions) for the assessor to predict how forecasted changes in climate are likely to influence the risks of introduction, establishment, dispersal and impact of a species. Following a concise but detailed description of AS-ISK, an example assessment of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is provided, with the French northern coastline as the risk assessment area, to demonstrate use of this decision-support tool. AS-ISK is available for free download at: http://www.cefas.co.uk/nns/tools/. ; UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural AffairsDepartment for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA); Cefas Seedcorn grant [DP372]; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [2221]; Department of Science Fellowships and Grant Programmes (BIDEB) ; This work was funded initially and in large part by the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and a Cefas Seedcorn grant (DP372). Further contributions by LV were through a 2221 Fellowship Programme grant from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the Department of Science Fellowships and Grant Programmes (BIDEB). We thank E. Tricarico for providing assisting with the Italian language component of AS-ISK, and anonymous reviewers for comments to an earlier version of the manuscript.
The freshwater Fish Invasiveness Screening Kit (FISK) has been applied in 35 risk assessment areas in 45 countries across the six inhabited continents (11 applications using FISK v1; 25 using FISK v2). The present study aimed: to assess the breadth of FISK applications and the confidence (certainty) levels associated with the decision-support tool's 49 questions and its ability to distinguish between taxa of low-to-medium and high risk of becoming invasive, and thus provide climate-specific, generalised, calibrated thresholds for risk level categorisation; and to identify the most potentially invasive freshwater fish species on a global level. The 1973 risk assessments were carried out by 70 + experts on 372 taxa (47 of the 51 species listed as invasive in the Global Invasive Species Database www.iucngisd.org/gisd/), which in decreasing order of importance belonged to the taxonomic Orders Cypriniformes, Perciformes, Siluriformes, Characiformes, Salmoniformes, Cyprinodontiformes, with the remaining ≈ 8% of taxa distributed across an additional 13 orders. The most widely-screened species (in decreasing importance) were: grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, common carp Cyprinus carpio, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva. Nine 'globally' high risk species were identified: common carp, black bullhead Ameiurus melas, round goby Neogobius melanostomus, Chinese (Amur) sleeper Perccottus glenii, brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus, eastern mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki, largemouth (black) bass Micropterus salmoides, pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus and pikeperch Sander lucioperca. The relevance of this global review to policy, legislation, and risk assessment and management procedures is discussed.
