| |
|
|
|
Caulerpa
cylindracea Sonder |
|
|
Caulerpa cylindracea
Sonder
(detailed information)
|
|
Species Details
|
| Class: |
Ulvophyceae (ex Bryopsidophyceae) |
| Genus: |
Caulerpa J.V.Lamouroux |
|
Species: |
Caulerpa cylindracea |
|
Authority: |
Sonder |
|
Description: |
A green macroalgae with slender thallus, lacking large rhizoidal pillars, basal part of the upright axes slightly inflated immediately above the attachment to the stolon, clavate branchlets, uncrowded and radially to distichously disposed (link) |
| |
|
| Taxonomy |
Chlorophyta |
| Name History |
Adjective (Latin), cylindrical. |
| Biogeography |
Native range Southwest coast of western Australia. Known Introduced Range Mediterranean: from Spain to Turkey; Atlantic: Canary Islands. Trend First record in the Mediterranean in the early 1990s in Libya. It was soon found in many other locations. At present extensive populations are found along much of the Mediterranean coastline (Albania, Balearic Islands, Corsica, Crete, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Sardinia, Spain, Turkey, Libya). |
| Uses and compounds |
It is known to attain total coverage in certain areas within six months of entry, its fast growing stolons allowing it to overgrow other macroalgae, mainly turf and encrusting species, and to curtail species number, percent cover and diversity of the macroalgal community. This feat is achieved even in highly diverse, native macroalgal assemblages with dense coverage. Off Cyprus, where the alga was first sighted in 1991, it replaced the dominant P. oceanica community within six years. The drastic change in the composition of the phytobenthos brought about a modification of the macrobenthos: a proliferation of polychaetes, bivalves and echinoderms and a reduction in the numbers of gastropods and crustaceans, and though the total number of species increased, it was mainly due to the greater number of polychaete species. A study of meiofauna in a dead matte of P. oceanica invaded by C. racemosa var. cylindracea revealed an increase in meiofaunal average density but a significant decrease in diversity and profound change in the crustacean assemblage, where harpacticoid copepods proliferate at the expense of ostracods, cumaceans, isopods, amphipods and tanaidaceans. |
| References |
Piazzi L, Ceccherelli G, Cinelli F (2001) Threat to macroalgal diversity: effects of the introduced alga Caulerpa racemosa in the Mediterranean. Marine Ecology Progress Series 210:149-159 Verlaque M, Afonso-Carrillo J, Candelaria Gil-Rodríguez M, Durand C, Boudouresque CF, Le Parco Y (2004) Blitzkrieg in a marine invasion: Caulerpla racemosa var. cylindracea (Bryopsidales, Chlorophyta) reaches the Canary Islands (north-east Atlantic). Biological Invasions 6:269-281 Verlaque M, Durand C, Huisman JM, Boudouresque CF, Le Parco Y (2003) On the identity and origin of the Mediterranean invasive Caulerpa racemosa (Caulerpales, Chlorophyta). European Journal of Phycology 38:325339 |
|
| Habitat: |
Marine habitat |
| Common names: |
Grape algae |
| Type information: |
Type locality: Western Australia (Silva, Basson & Moe 1996: 830). Holotype: Preiss; MEL 516014 (Womersley 1984: 270). |
Specimens
|
|
|
|
Bibliography
( 0 link(s) available
) |
|
( 0 document(s) available
) |
|
|
|
1975 specimens in MACOI collections
2293 bibliographic references
2839 occurrence records
6322 images
|
|
