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Diversity and assemblage structure of tropical marine flora on lava flows of different ages
- Source :
- Aquatic Botany, Aquatic Botany, Elsevier, 2018, 144, pp.20--30. ⟨10.1016/j.aquabot.2017.10.005⟩
- Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Recent volcanic lava flows extending into the ocean represent an ideal opportunity to study the long-term successional development of marine floral assemblages on the bare new substratum. We describe the floral assemblages of nine lava flows of different ages (prehistoric to 2007) at Piton de la Fournaise (Reunion Island, Indian Ocean) based on a survey of 37 stations. We identified 159 species including 148 macroalgae, 1 seagrass, and 10 cyanobacteria. Fifty-one of those represent new records for Reunion Island, and at least 9 taxa were identified as new to science. Recent lava flows were characterized by the dominance of ephemeral, opportunistic species, such as Pseudobryopsis hainanensis and Acrocladus dotyanus, while prehistoric lava flows were mainly characterized by perennial species, particularly Sargassum portierianum and Turbinaria ornata. A canonical correspondence analysis revealed that the environmental factor that most significantly correlated to the variation in floral assemblages was the distance to the most recent lava flow (2007). This factor was also highly correlated to coral cover. The composition of the different floral assemblages is discussed in relation to abiotic and biotic factors to explain ecological succession in a tropical environment.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Lava
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
Plant Science
Ecological succession
Aquatic Science
Cyanobacteria
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
[SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Ecosystems
Macroalgae
Canonical correspondence analysis
Dominance (ecology)
14. Life underwater
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
biology
Piton de la fournaise
Ecology
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Ephemeral key
Reunion island
Coral reef
15. Life on land
biology.organism_classification
Seagrass
Volcano
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 03043770
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Aquatic Botany, Aquatic Botany, Elsevier, 2018, 144, pp.20--30. ⟨10.1016/j.aquabot.2017.10.005⟩
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....70b7fb3f57a93e018ae659e72c0a1c02