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590 P. GianGuzza, B. zava, C. Bonaviri, G. Monteverde, a. PalMeri, S. riGGio

Conclusions
The general trend in the results is not in accordance with the study hypothe-
sis: fish assemblage predominant in the alien C. taxifolia meadow appears to be
qualitatively and quantitatively richer than the one in C. prolifera. The invasion
of C. taxifolia seems to have impacted the coastal fish assemblages of Sicilian
Caulerpa systems and increased local biodiversity. However, we wish to point out
that we could not collect samples in more than one bed for each species due to
the actual distribution of the three Caulerpa spp. in Sicily. Therefore the results
are not conclusive and the above mentioned differences in fish assemblages might
be due not only to a different algal species coverage, but also to the natural varia-
bility of locations.

Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to Julie-Anne Buck for revising the English text.

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This study was funded by the M.A.T.T. (Ministero dell’Ambiente e Difesa del Territorio) research project
to GRE (Gruppi Ricerca Ecologica) and by ex-60% Prof. S. Riggio.