Extracts from 27 marine algal species (14 Rhodophyta, 5 Phaeophyta, and 8 Chlorophyta) from the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico) were evaluated for cytotoxic and antiproliferative activity by 3(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and sulforhodamine B (SRB) assays, respectively. To determine the specificity of cytotoxic activity against tumor cells, the selective index (SI...

1* Kastamonu University, Faculty of Fisheries, 37200 Kastamonu, Turkey. 2Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Fisheries, 17100 Çanakkale, Turkey. 3Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Arts, 17100 Çanakkale, Turkey. [[email protected]] Received 25 May 2013; revised 18 June 2013 The total lipid and fatty acid methyl esters composition of ...

Many coral reefs have phase shifted from coral to macroalgal dominance. Ocean acidification (OA) due to elevated CO2 is hypothesised to advantage macroalgae over corals, contributing to these shifts, but the mechanisms affecting coral-macroalgal interactions under OA are unknown. Here, we show that (i) three common macroalgae are more damaging to a common coral when they compete under CO2 conce...

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of twenty species of tropical macroalgae on in vitro fermentation parameters, total gas production (TGP) and methane (CH4) production when incubated in rumen fluid from cattle fed a low quality roughage diet. Primary biochemical parameters of macroalgae were characterized and included proximate, elemental, and fatty acid (FAME) analysis. Macroalgae and t...

Coral recruitment is a key process in the maintenance and recovery of coral reef ecosystems. While intense competition between coral and algae is often assumed on reefs that have undergone phase shifts from coral to algal dominance, data examining the competitive interactions involved, particularly during the larval and immediate post-settlement stage, are scarce. Using a series of field and ou...

Terrestrial runoff after heavy rainfall can increase nutrient concentrations in waters overlying coral reefs that otherwise experience low nutrient levels. Field measurements during a runoff event showed a sharp increase in nitrate (75-fold), phosphate (31-fold) and ammonium concentrations (3-fold) in waters overlying a fringing reef at the island of Curaçao (Southern Caribbean). To understand ...

There is a greater quantity and diversity of lipophilic secondary metabolites produced by seaweeds within tropical relative to temperate regions. Coevolutionary arms-race theory predicts that tropical herbivores should more readily tolerate consuming chemically-rich seaweeds than do temperate herbivores, however, tests of this prediction are rare. We assessed the willingness to consume freeze-d...

Sea urchins are important grazers and influence reef development in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP). Diadema mexicanum and Eucidaris thouarsii are the most important sea urchins on the Ecuadorian coastal reefs. This study provided a trophic scenario for these two species of echinoids in the coral-rocky reef bottoms of the Ecuadorian coast, using stable isotopes. We evaluated the relative pro...