کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
4396905 1305851 2009 7 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
Structural complexity facilitates accumulation and retention of fragments of the invasive alga, Caulerpa taxifolia
موضوعات مرتبط
علوم زیستی و بیوفناوری علوم کشاورزی و بیولوژیک علوم آبزیان
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
Structural complexity facilitates accumulation and retention of fragments of the invasive alga, Caulerpa taxifolia
چکیده انگلیسی

Free-drifting fragments represent an abundant potential source of recruits to the invasive alga, Caulerpa taxifolia. Here we examine how this fragment pool interacts with real and artificial habitat structure in estuarine environments. Specifically, we tested two hypotheses; (i) the fragment pool was unrelated to the structural complexity of Caulerpa beds and, (ii) fragment accumulation and retention was unrelated to canopy height of seagrass meadows. We examined fragment accumulation and retention using artificial seagrass units (ASUs) mimicking seagrasses with long (20 cm) leaves (Posidonia/Zostera) and short (5 cm) leaves (Halophila spp.). Both hypotheses were rejected. Fragment biomass was a positive function of the blade height and cover of Caulerpa taxifolia. ASUs with structure had greater fragment accumulation than controls, but we did not detect differences between ASUs of different canopy heights. However, fragment accumulation within ASUs was strongly affected by site, with the site experiencing the strongest tidal flows accumulating the most fragments. Structurally complex ASUs also retained more fragments relative to the bare control, but the degree of complexity did not affect retention and we could not distinguish between ASUs of different canopy height and the procedural control (metal frame lacking ‘leaves’). Overall, we conclude that the entanglement of C. taxifolia fragments is facilitated by structurally complex habitat and likely contributes to the successful establishment of this invader.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology - Volume 371, Issue 2, 15 April 2009, Pages 163–169
نویسندگان
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