Long-term changes in macroalgal assemblages after increased sedimentation and turbidity in Western Port, Victoria, Australia
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Scoresby A. Shepherd
Abstract
The long-term impacts of declining water quality from coastal development on macro-algal communities can be devastating, but are rarely known because of lack of baseline studies. This study examines the effect of increased sediment and reduced water quality over 35 years in an Australian temperate coastal embayment. The algal assemblage on Crawfish Rock in northern Western Port was surveyed in 1967–1971 and in 2002–2006. During the 1980s, water quality declined following large-scale seagrass loss. In 1971, the Rock had a rich algal flora with 138 recorded species, including 97 species of Rhodophyta. The biomass and cover of canopy and understorey species were measured at sites of strong and slight current on a depth gradient. In 1971, fucoid or laminarian canopy species were dominant from ∼1–8 m depth, and an algal understorey extended from the intertidal zone to 12–13 m depth. In 2002–2006 the canopy species extended to only 3 m depth and the algal understorey to ∼4 m depth, and 66% of the algal species had disappeared, although a few additional species were present. Persistent, sediment-tolerant species included several phaeophycean canopy species, some chlorophytes (Caulerpa spp.) and a few rhodophytes.
©2009 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial note
- To Professor H.B.S. Womersley in honour of his continued contributions to phycology
- Research articles
- Long-term changes in macroalgal assemblages after increased sedimentation and turbidity in Western Port, Victoria, Australia
- Biology and taxonomic identity of Erythroglossumlusitanicum (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) from the Iberian Peninsula
- Records of Rhodophyta new to the flora of the Iberian Atlantic coast
- Notes on the benthic marine algae of Puerto Rico. IX. Additions to the flora including reports of three species for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean
- Lomentaria benahoarensis (Lomentariaceae, Rhodophyta), a diminutive epiphytic new species from La Palma, Canary Islands (eastern Atlantic Ocean)
- Morphology and anatomy of Halymenia actinophysa (Halymeniales, Rhodophyta) from the southwestern Gulf of California, Mexico
- Typification of Antithamnion nipponicum Yamada et Inagaki (Antithamnieae, Ceramioideae, Ceramiaceae, Ceramiales, Rhodophyta)
- Effect of enzymatic digestion on thallus degradation and extraction of hydrosoluble compounds from Grateloupia turuturu
- Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of some red algae (Rhodophyta) from Brittany coasts (France)
- Short communication
- Comparison of different procedures for the extraction and partial purification of R-phycoerythrin from the red macroalga Grateloupia turuturu
- Meetings
- Meetings
Articles in the same Issue
- Editorial note
- To Professor H.B.S. Womersley in honour of his continued contributions to phycology
- Research articles
- Long-term changes in macroalgal assemblages after increased sedimentation and turbidity in Western Port, Victoria, Australia
- Biology and taxonomic identity of Erythroglossumlusitanicum (Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) from the Iberian Peninsula
- Records of Rhodophyta new to the flora of the Iberian Atlantic coast
- Notes on the benthic marine algae of Puerto Rico. IX. Additions to the flora including reports of three species for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean
- Lomentaria benahoarensis (Lomentariaceae, Rhodophyta), a diminutive epiphytic new species from La Palma, Canary Islands (eastern Atlantic Ocean)
- Morphology and anatomy of Halymenia actinophysa (Halymeniales, Rhodophyta) from the southwestern Gulf of California, Mexico
- Typification of Antithamnion nipponicum Yamada et Inagaki (Antithamnieae, Ceramioideae, Ceramiaceae, Ceramiales, Rhodophyta)
- Effect of enzymatic digestion on thallus degradation and extraction of hydrosoluble compounds from Grateloupia turuturu
- Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of some red algae (Rhodophyta) from Brittany coasts (France)
- Short communication
- Comparison of different procedures for the extraction and partial purification of R-phycoerythrin from the red macroalga Grateloupia turuturu
- Meetings
- Meetings
