ARPHA Preprints, doi: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e161414

The first national assessment of established non-native species in Türkiye

Ali Serhan Tarkan^‡, Sercan Yapıcı^§, Irmak Kurtul^|¶, Dagmara Błońska^#, Lorenzo Vilizzi^¤, Hayrunisa Bas^§, Shahid Farooq^«, Ceray Aldemir^§, Tuğba Ucma Uysal^§, Daniela Giannetto^», Gokcen Bilge^˄, Mülkibar Çiftçioğlu^§, Elnaz Najafi-Majd^˅, Lale Aktay-Sözüer^¦, Cüneyt Kaya^ˀ, Esra Bayçelebi^ˀ, Ilker Aydin^ˁ, Phillip Joschka Haubrock^₵, Elizabeta Briski^ℓ, Ismael Soto^₰

‡ Faculty of Fisheries, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkiye§ Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Muğla, Turkiye| Post Researcher, Visiting Fellow, Bournemouth, United Kingdom¶ Research Asisstant, Izmir, Turkiye# University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland¤ University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland« Harran University, Şanlıurfa, Turkiye» Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Mugla, Turkiye˄ Hydrobiology, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Faculty of Fisheries, Turkey, Mugla, Turkiye˅ Ege University. Faculty of Science, Izmir, Turkiye¦ Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkiyeˀ Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkiyeˁ Ege University, Izmir, Turkiye₵ Gulf University for Science and Technology, Mubarak Al-Abdullah, Kuwaitℓ GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany₰ University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Corresponding author: Ali Serhan Tarkan ( serhantarkan@gmail.com )

Corresponding author: Ilker Aydin ( ilker.aydin@ege.edu.tr )

© Ali Serhan Tarkan, Sercan Yapıcı, Irmak Kurtul, Dagmara Błońska, Lorenzo Vilizzi, Hayrunisa Bas, Shahid Farooq, Ceray Aldemir, Tuğba Ucma Uysal, Daniela Giannetto, Gokcen Bilge, Mülkibar Çiftçioğlu, Elnaz Najafi-Majd, Lale Aktay-Sözüer, Cüneyt Kaya, Esra Bayçelebi, Ilker Aydin, Phillip Haubrock, Elizabeta Briski, Ismael Soto.

This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation:

Abstract

The ecological and socio-economic impacts of non-native species underscore the importance of maintaining accurate national lists to support biosecurity and management strategies. Türkiye's most recent national list highlights ongoing challenges in maintaining up-to-date records. To advance Türkiye’s national assessment of non-native species, we present the first comprehensive list of established non-native species in the country, documenting 268 species from 157 families across diverse taxonomic groups. Marine species (n = 199) dominated the list, with notable contributions from Chordata, Mollusca, and Arthropoda, followed by Terrestrial (41), Freshwater (24), Terrestrial/Freshwater (3) and Freshwater/Marine (1). Our spatial analysis revealed considerable regional variation, with urban and coastal areas exhibiting higher rates of species establishment likely facilitated by human-mediated pathways. We also identify Türkiye’s role as a crucial hub for the spread of non-native species across the country’s borders. Further, we show that 17% of non-native species have known ecological or economic impacts, emphasizing the need for targeted impact assessments, monitoring, and proactive management. By providing a detailed and up-to-date inventory of established non-native species and their impacts, this study offers a critical foundation for strengthening biosecurity policies, guiding targeted monitoring efforts, and fostering coordinated management responses at local, national, and international scales to safeguard Türkiye’s biodiversity.

Keywords

Biodiversity, Impacts, Species management, Human-mediated pathways, Trade networks, Regional patterns