Seasonal alignment of maritime shipping and species reproduction can affect the spread of marine invasive species

Seasonal alignment of maritime shipping and species reproduction can affect the spread of marine invasive species | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Seasonal alignment of maritime shipping and species reproduction can affect the spread of marine invasive species Simone Stevenson, Ian Davidson, Julio Botero, Kay Critchell, Cal Faubel, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5627221/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Biological Invasions → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Biofouling of ships and boats is a dominant global transport pathway for marine invasive species. Many marine non-indigenous species (NIS) can only be entrained by vessels and subsequently ‘discharged’ during their short-lived but highly mobile larval form. This means their ability to spread is reliant on vessels arriving in suitable habitat during spawning. Vessel arrivals and spawning are, however, both transient events. The prevalence of synchrony between shipping traffic and spawning and its influence on the spread of marine NIS is not well understood, however. Using New Zealand as a case study, we show that seasonality of shipping traffic is much more prevalent for domestic (coastwise) shipping traffic, than for international shipping arriving from overseas. Seasonality in ship arrivals occurred in 35 of 58 nationwide locations that receive commercial vessels. In many locations (ports) exhibiting seasonality, peaks in shipping coincide with peaks in reproductive outputs of spring-summer spawning NIS. This suggests that troughs in vessel traffic during cooler months may play an important role in limiting secondary spread of autumn and winter spawning NIS throughout New Zealand. Our findings indicate the importance of incorporating seasonality in models of vessel-mediated spread and the need for more empirical data on the timing of introduction and entrainment events. They also point to an opportunity to optimise surveillance and vector management efforts during periods of peak synchronicity. Seasonality biological invasions marine biofouling modelling shipping Full Text Supplementary Files 241212codeanddataBIsub1.pdf 241212seasonalsupportinginfoBIsub1.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Biological Invasions → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Dec, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 30 Dec, 2024 Editor invited by journal 17 Dec, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 11 Dec, 2024 First submitted to journal 11 Dec, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5627221","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":395859805,"identity":"4f0385b1-7379-43f6-9207-9d27587d06e4","order_by":0,"name":"Simone 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