Sublittoral seaweed communities on natural and artificial substrata in a high-latitude coral community in South Africa

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorGersun, L.
dc.contributor.authorAnderson, Robert J.
dc.contributor.authorHart, J.R.
dc.contributor.authorManeveldt, G.W.
dc.contributor.authorBolton, John J.
dc.date.accessioned2018-05-16T11:48:10Z
dc.date.available2018-05-16T11:48:10Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractCoral mortality may result in macroalgal proliferation or a phase shift into an alga dominated state. Subtidal, high-latitude western Indian Ocean coral communities at Sodwana Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa, have experienced some mortality because of warm water anomalies, storms and other causes, but the response of the macroalgae is unknown. We investigated the abundance and diversity of benthic algae on different hard natural substrata (dead digitate, brain and plate corals and beach rock) on Two-Mile Reef, Sodwana Bay. We also compared algal communities colonising ceramic, marble and pretreated ceramic tiles placed on the reef for six months. We identified 95 algae (14 Chlorophyta, 11 Phaeophyceae, 69 Rhodophyta and one cyanobacterium). Assemblages on natural and artificial substrata were dominated by the brown alga Lobophora variegata (Lamouroux) Womersley ex Oliveira and non-geniculate corallines (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae). Cluster and ordination analyses revealed that the algae showed no affinity for particular substrata, whether natural or artificial. Algal cover was occasionally higher on rougher tiles and crustose corallines were significantly more abundant on marble than ceramic tiles. Two-Mile Reef had 23.1% dead and 48.4% live scleractinian coral cover, where dead corals were colonised indiscriminately by many small algal species, but there was no evidence of algal proliferation. The results provide a baseline for monitoring this high-latitude reef system.en_US
dc.description.accreditationDHET
dc.identifier.citationGersun, L. et al. (2016). Sublittoral seaweed communities on natural and artificial substrata in a high-latitude coral community in South Africa African Journal of Marine Science, 38(3): 303-316 https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2016.1196727en_US
dc.identifier.issn1814-232X
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2016.1196727
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/3682
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.privacy.showsubmitterFALSE
dc.publisherNational Inquiry Services Centre (NISC)en_US
dc.rightsThis is the author version of the article published online at: https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2016.1196727
dc.status.ispeerreviewedTRUE
dc.subjectBenthic Algaeen_US
dc.subjectCoral Bleachingen_US
dc.subjectDead Coralen_US
dc.subjectLobophora Variegataen_US
dc.subjectMacroalgaeen_US
dc.subjectNon-Geniculate Coralline Algaeen_US
dc.subjectRecruitmenten_US
dc.subjectSodwana Bayen_US
dc.titleSublittoral seaweed communities on natural and artificial substrata in a high-latitude coral community in South Africaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Sublittoral seaweed communities on natural and artificial substrata in a high latitude coral community in South Africa.pdf
Size:
2.27 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Research Articles (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology)