Ballast Water Exchange and Invasion Risk Posed by Intracoastal Vessel Traffic: An Evaluation Using High Throughput Sequencing

Ballast water remains a potent vector of non-native aquatic species introductions, despite increased global efforts to reduce risk of ballast water mediated invasions. This is particularly true of intracoastal vessel traffic, whose characteristics may limit the feasibility and efficacy of management through ballast water exchange (BWE). Here we utilize high throughput sequencing (HTS) to assess biological communities associated with ballast water being delivered to Valdez, Alaska from multiple source ports along the Pacific Coast of the United States. Our analyses indicate that BWE has a significant but modest effect on ballast water assemblages. Although overall richness was not reduced with exchange, we detected losses of some common benthic coastal taxa (e.g., decapods, mollusks, bryozoans, cnidaria) and gains of open ocean taxa (e.g., certain copepods, diatoms, and dinoflagellates), including some potentially toxic species. HTS-based metabarcoding identified significantly differentiated biodiversity signatures from individual source ports; this signal persisted, though weakened, in vessels undergoing BWE, indicating incomplete faunal turnover associated with management. Our analysis also enabled identification of taxa that may be of particular concern if established in Alaskan waters. While these results reveal a clear effect of BWE on diversity in intracoastal transit, they also indicate continued introduction risk of non-native and harmful taxa.