Conférence de Victor R. Alekseev, professeur de l’Institut de Zoologie à l’Académie des sciences de Russie situé à St-Petersburg.

Résumé
One of the major vectors of human mediated alien species wide spreading is transportation with ship ballast water. Dormancy phenomenon in invertebrate is a basic metabolic mechanism for such transportation of invasive species. For a long time the dominative both way roots for Atlantic-Pacific fauna interchanges were tropic gates. At first it was via long way around Africa and India (spicy shipping) than in the beginning of 20th century via Panama channel.  In 21th century the Arctic ice shield melting opens a new gate for fast and intensive ship transportation between these biogeographic zones, that creates a new high risk for alien species penetration with ships (both attached to ship surface and inside the ballast water tanks). This problem is absolutely new for science and economy and has not been studied yet, even it should be very important for biological security in many courtiers in America, Europe and in Asia. Specific conditions of Arctic transportation via Arctic open new chance for successive invasion to another set of species comparatively to tropic roots. This can be resulted in a new wave of biological invasion with ships. Possibilities to block or at least shorten or slow down this harmful process is discussing.

Conférence présentée par le Département de sciences biologiques de l’Université de Montréal dans le cadre de la série « Midi Écologique ».