{"id":338,"date":"2010-01-29T14:36:15","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T14:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/?p=338"},"modified":"2010-01-29T14:38:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T14:38:00","slug":"harmful-algae-ecology-and-nutrition-of-invasive-caulerpa-brachypus-f-parvifolia-blooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/2010\/01\/29\/harmful-algae-ecology-and-nutrition-of-invasive-caulerpa-brachypus-f-parvifolia-blooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Harmful Algae: Ecology and nutrition of invasive Caulerpa brachypus f. parvifolia blooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
Lapointe & Bedford HA 2009[1]<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/div>\n
Harmful Algae<\/a>\u00a0 Volume 9, Issue 1<\/a>, January 2010, Pages 1-12<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Ecology and nutrition of invasive Caulerpa brachypus f. parvifolia<\/em> blooms on coral reefs off southeast Florida, U.S.A.<\/div>\n

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by Brian E. Lapointe<\/a>\"Corresponding<\/sup><\/a>, <\/sup>a<\/sup><\/a>, <\/sup>\"E-mail<\/sup><\/a> and Bradley J. Bedforda<\/sup><\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>a<\/sup>Center for Marine Ecosystem Health, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, 5600 U.S. I North, Fort Pierce, FL 34946, USA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Received 18 August 2008;\u00a0<\/div>\n

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revised 2 June 2009;\u00a0<\/div>\n

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accepted 3 June 2009.\u00a0<\/div>\n

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Available online 11 June 2009.<\/div>\n


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Abstract<\/h3>\n

Coral reefs off southeast Florida have experienced an unprecedented succession of invasive chlorophyte blooms over the past two decades, most recently the non-native Caulerpa brachypus f. parvifolia<\/em>. To better understand the ecology and nutrition of the C. brachypus<\/em> invasion, we monitored benthic cover, water column dissolved inorganic nutrients, tissue C:N:P ratios and stable nitrogen isotopes (\u03b415<\/sup>N) of C. brachypus<\/em> and native chlorophytes (Caulerpa racemosa<\/em>, Caulerpa verticillata<\/em>, Caulerpa mexicana<\/em>, Codium isthmocladum<\/em>) quarterly at two reef sites \u2013 the Princess Anne (PA) and North Colonel’s Ledge (NCL) \u2013 in 2003\u20132004. The PA site was influenced by stormwater discharges from the Lake Worth inlet whereas NCL was farther distant from these discharges. Between winter and spring of 2003, C. brachypus<\/em> became the dominant benthic chlorophyte, expanding to >60% cover at both PA and NCL. Following cold temperatures (13\u00a0\u00b0C) associated with strong upwelling and high nitrate concentrations (21\u00a0\u03bcM) at NCL in July 2003, C. brachypus<\/em> cover decreased, suggesting that upwelling can stress growth of this tropical alga. Mean ammonium (0.60\u00a0\u03bcM), nitrate (2.7\u00a0\u03bcM) and DIN (3.2\u00a0\u03bcM) concentrations were high for coral reef environments. Low mean C:N ratios of \"not,13 in C. brachypus<\/em> at both PA and NCL indicated little, if any, N-limitation compared to higher C:N ratios (up to 24) and greater N-limitation in native chlorophytes. Despite a relatively high mean SRP concentration (0.21\u00a0\u03bcM), mean N:P ratios of \"not,39 in C. brachypus<\/em> and other chlorophytes at PA and NCL suggested that these blooms were P-limited. Multiple lines of evidence support the hypothesis that land-based nutrient sources fueled the C. brachypus<\/em> invasion. First, more persistent blooms of C. brachypus<\/em> at PA compared to NCL correlated with significantly lower tissue C:P and higher \u03b415<\/sup>N values (wet season) at PA, the site most directly influenced by land-based stormwater runoff. Second, C:N, C:P, and \u03b415<\/sup>N values of C. brachypus<\/em> correlated with seasonal patterns of rainfall and stormwater runoff. Third, \u03b415<\/sup>N values of C. brachypus<\/em> and other chlorophytes decreased at NCL following strong upwelling in July 2003, confirming that upwelled nitrate was not the cause of the elevated \u03b415<\/sup>N values observed in these blooms. Lastly, the mean \u03b415<\/sup>N values of C. brachypus<\/em> and other chlorophytes off southeast Florida (+4.9\u2030) were in the range of sewage nitrogen and significantly higher than values (+1.2\u2030) for reference chlorophytes in the Abacos, Bahamas, an area that experiences relatively little sewage input.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Keywords: <\/strong>Caulerpa brachypus<\/em>; Coral reef; Eutrophication; Invasive; Macroalgae; Nitrogen; Non-native; Phosphorus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lapointe & Bedford HA 2009[1]\u00a0\u00a0 Harmful Algae\u00a0 Volume 9, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 1-12 Ecology and nutrition of invasive Caulerpa brachypus f. parvifolia blooms on coral reefs off southeast Florida, U.S.A. by Brian E. Lapointe, a, and Bradley J. Bedforda aCenter for Marine Ecosystem Health, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, 5600 U.S. … Continue reading Harmful Algae: Ecology and nutrition of invasive Caulerpa brachypus f. parvifolia blooms<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":348,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reefrelieffounders.com\/science\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}