Preface

BOLTOVSKOY, DEMETRIO

Limnoperna fortunei: the ecology, distribution and control of a swiftly spreading invasive fouling mussel

Springer International Publishing

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2015; p. 7 - 14

Ever since it started spreading to other countries, Limnoperna fortunei has become an issue of growing concern. In his pioneering work, Morton (1977) pointed out that ?The fouling potential of L. fortunei cannot, as yet, be accurately forecast, but it is felt expedient to warn against artificial introduction of this mollusc elsewhere.? This diagnosis proved correct shortly thereafter when L. fortunei was shown to have spread into Taiwan and Korea, and later into Japan and South America (see Part III in this volume). Introduction of the mussel in the latter two areas, which occurred at about the same time (around 1990), was clearly marked by a boom in the number of reports centered on this mussel (Fig. 1). Publications on L. fortunei soared from an average of < 0.3 per year in 1950?1992, to over 20 per year in 1993?2012. By the end of 2013, there were ~ 500 works of various types devoted either solely or chiefly to the golden mussel. Journal articles made up around 60 % of this total, followed by conference reports, book chapters, theses, and miscellaneous works (web pages, internal reports, etc.) (Fig. 2).