Excess nutrients are potential factors that drive phase shifts from seagrasses to macroalgae. We carried out a manipulative field experiment to study the effects of macroalgae Ulva pertusa loading and nutrient addition to the water column on the nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) contents (i.e., fast indicators) as well as on the morphology and structure (i.e., slow indicators) of Zostera marina. Our ...

Tropical reefs are in global decline with seaweeds commonly replacing corals. Negative associations between macroalgae and corals are well documented, but the mechanisms involved, the dynamics of the interactions, and variance in effects of different macroalgal-coral pairings are poorly investigated. We assessed the frequency, magnitude, and dynamics of macroalgal-coral competition involving al...

Background: Macroalgae are sources of bioactive compounds due to the large number of secondary metabolites they synthesize. The Antarctica region is characterized by extreme weather conditions and abundant aggregations of macroalgae. However, current knowledge on their biodiversity and their potential for bio-prospecting is still fledging. This study evaluates the antimicrobial and cytotoxic ac...

Macroalgae are photosynthetic, multicellular, sessile eukaryotic organisms that offer diverse habitats for the colonization of epiphytic bacteria, therefore establishing biological interactions of diverse complexity. This review focusses on the interactions between macroalgae and their Epiphytic Bacterial Community (EBC); the main aims are to ascertain whether (1) the epiphytic bacterial groups...

Macroalgae are considered as primary producers in ecosystem food chain. This study investigated spatial and temporal variation of three species of macroalgae namely, Laurencia caspica (red macroalga) Enteromorpha intestinalis and Cladophora glomerata (green macroalgae) on the hard substrates of the southern Caspian Sea coasts and their relation with environmental factors. Seasonal sampling pref...

Hong Kong is within the tropics and has a seasonal climate. In winter, shores support patches of ephemeral macroalgae and areas of seemingly bare rock close to crevices where molluscan herbivores are abundant. Using a factorial design of herbivore exclusions in areas far and close to crevices, the development of algal assemblages was monitored in mid-shore, cleared areas, in winter. To estimate...

Increasing settlement and post-settlement survival during the critical transition from planktonic larvae to benthic juveniles will increase efficiency for sea urchin aquaculture. This study investigated the effects of temperature and settlement cues on the settlement and post-settlement survival of the sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla during this phase. The current commercial methodology, which ...

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...

Quahog parasite unknown (QPX) is a relatively poorly characterized protistan parasite that causes QPX disease in infected hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria). Most prior studies presented descriptive reports of the occurrence and the characteristics of the disease in cultured and wild clams, while several basic aspects of the biology and ecology of the parasite remain obscure. In an attempt to b...